Nick Sears: Presenting the Orb

翻译人员: Wang Qian 校对人员: Chaoran Yu

In 1962, Buckminster Fuller

Buckminster Fuller于1952年

presented the particularly audacious proposal for the Geoscope.

提出一个有关潜望镜的大胆提议。

It was a 200-foot diameter geodesic sphere

一个直径有200尺的测地球体

to be suspended over the East River in New York City, in full view of the United Nations.

并将其悬挂在纽约市东河，同时可以看到联合国大楼全景。

It was a big idea, for sure, and it was one that he felt could truly inform

的确很大胆，他认为这个设计可以

and deeply affect the decision making of this body

通过球体的动态数据与、影像

through animations of global data, trends

以及全球问题

and other information regarding the globe, on this sphere.

以提醒作为持有决定权的联合国

And today, 45 years later,

45年后的今天，

we clearly have no less need for this kind of clarity and perspective,

我们仍需要这种透彻的见解，

but what we do have is improved technology.

同时我们还具有飞速进步的科技。

Today we don't need one million light bulbs to create a spherical display.

今天我们已不需上万个灯泡来照亮球体。

We can use LEDs.

我们已经有发光二极管了。

LEDs are smaller, they're cheaper, they're longer lasting, they're more efficient.

发光二极管小而便宜，还很耐用，以及节能。

Most importantly for this, they're faster.

最重要的是，发光二极管很快。

And this speed, combined with today's high-performance micro-controllers,

以它们的速度，加上今天的高性能微星控制器

allows us to actually simulate, in this piece,

让我们能够用64块二极发光管模拟

over 17,000 LEDs -- using just 64.

17000块二极发光管。

And the way this happens is through the phenomenon of persistence of vision.

这是利用了视觉停留现象。

But as this ring rotates at about 1,700 rpm -- that's 28 times per second.

但在球体每分旋转高达1700圈，也就是每秒28圈时。

The equator's speed is actually about 60 miles per hour.

赤道时速也就60英里每小时。

There are four on-board micro-controllers

球体有4个内置微星控制器

that, each time this ring rotates

当球体每旋转

it, as it passes the rear of the display,

至屏幕的后方时

it picks up a position signal.

它会接收到一个位置信号

And from that, the on-board micro-controllers

从而引导微星控制器

can extrapolate the position of the ring at all points around the revolution

推断球体在整个旋转中的位置

and display arbitrary bitmap images and animations.

再显示推断的位图图像及影像。

But this is really just the beginning.

这只是开始

In addition to higher resolution versions of this display,

除了高分辨率显示以外，

my father and I are working on a new patent-pending design

我父亲和我正在争取一项新设计注册专利，

for a fully volumetric display using the same phenomenon.

一个运用相同原理来测定体积的技术。

It achieves this by rotating LEDs about two axes.

这是通过在两个轨道旋转二极发光管来实现的。

So as you can see here, this is a, eleven-inch diameter circuit board.

正如你所看到，这是一个直径11寸的线路板。

These blocks represent LEDs.

这些方块代表二极发光管。

And so you could see that as this disc rotates about this axis,

这些圆圈围绕这个中心旋转，

it will create a disc of light that we can control.

它形成的光环是可控的。

That's nothing new: that's a propeller clock;

这没什么新鲜的，这就是螺旋桨时钟。

that's the rims that you can buy for your car.

你的车可能会用到这个远程信息管理系统。

But what is new is that, when we rotate this disc about this axis,

新鲜的是，当圆圈围绕中心旋转时

this disc of light actually becomes a sphere of light.

这样光圈实际上可变成光球。

And so we can control that with micro-controllers

我们可以用微星控制器操控

and create a fully volumetric, three-dimensional display with just 256 LEDs.

仅用256块二极发光管就组成测量体积的三维显示。

Now this piece is currently in process --

这个现在还在研制中--

due out in May -- but what we've done is we've put together a small demo,

5月份就会问世，为此我们进行了一个小型展示会，

just to show the geometric translation of points into a sphere.

以展示几何是如何融入到球体中。

I've got a little video to show you,

这儿还有个视频，

but keep in mind that this is with no electronic control,

不过这个没有电子控制，

and this is also with only four LEDs.

而且只有4块二极发光管。

This is actually only about 1.5 percent of what the final display will be in May.

这只是我们5月展示的1.5%。

So, take a look.

瞧瞧吧。

And here you can see it's rotating about the vertical axis only, creating circles.

这个现在只是围绕垂直轴旋转，形成环形。

And then, as the other axis kicks in,

再加入其他轴线，

those actually blur into a volume.

这些都融入一个体积内。

And the shutter speed of the camera

和高速摄像机

actually makes it slightly less effective in this case.

不过不是很高效。

But this piece is due out in May.

这个5月份面世。

It'll be on display at the Interactive Telecommunications Spring Show

会在春季互动电信展会上展出，

in Greenwich Village in New York City -- that's open to the public,

是在纽约格林威治村举行。

definitely invite you all to come and attend -- it's a fantastic show.

我会邀请大家的--这个展览很棒。

There are hundreds of student innovators with fantastic projects.

会展上有上百个学生发明家，他们有绝妙的设计。

This piece, actually, will be on display

这个会被展出

down in the Sierra Simulcast Lounge

于Sierra Simulcast大厅。

in the breaks between now and the end of the show.

直到展览结束。

So I'd love to talk to you all, and invite you

很荣幸向大家介绍，我也很乐意邀请大家

to come down and take a closer look.

来亲眼看看。

It's an honor to be here. Thanks very much.

今天能登台很荣幸，非常感谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）