Robert Full: Learning from the gecko's tail

翻译人员: Peiran Gao 校对人员: An Li

Let me share with you today an original discovery.

今天，我将与你们分享一个独立发现的故事。

But I want to tell it to you the way it really happened --

我想告诉你们这个发现究竟是如何发生的。

not the way I present it in a scientific meeting,

而不像科学会议，

or the way you'd read it in a scientific paper.

或是文献中介绍的故事。

It's a story about beyond biomimetics,

这个发现的领域超越了传统的仿生学，

to something I'm calling biomutualism.

我把它称作Biomutualism。

I define that as an association between biology and another discipline,

它是生物学与另一门学科

where each discipline reciprocally advances the other,

相互促进、发现的科研方法。

but where the collective discoveries that emerge are beyond any single field.

其共同研究的成果非任何单一学科所能及。

Now, in terms of biomimetics,

就仿生学来说，

as human technologies take on more of the characteristics of nature,

在人类科技不断学习、仿制自然的过程中，

nature becomes a much more useful teacher.

大自然成为了一个越来越有益的老师。

Engineering can be inspired by biology

比如工程师常在生物学中寻找启发，

by using its principles and analogies when they're advantageous,

借鉴自然中实用的原理和相似的现象。

but then integrating that with the best human engineering,

他们将这些启发与最好的工程方法相结合，

ultimately to make something actually better than nature.

才得以设计出超越自然界灵感来源本身的产品。

Now, being a biologist, I was very curious about this.

作为生物学家，我对这样一个过程很好奇。

These are gecko toes.

这是壁虎的脚趾。

And we wondered how they use these bizarre toes

我们很想知道壁虎是如何用这些奇怪的脚趾来

to climb up a wall so quickly.

飞快地爬墙。

We discovered it. And what we found was

我们已经找到了答案。

that they have leaf-like structures on their toes,

它们趾上有许多这样叶状的结构

with millions of tiny hairs that look like a rug,

每一片上有上百万这样非常小的刚毛。

and each of those hairs has the worst case of split-ends possible:

每一条刚毛还被最大可能的分叉，

about 100 to 1000 split ends that are nano-size.

大约100至1000个这样纳米级的分叉。

And the individual has 2 billion of these nano-size split ends.

这条壁虎有20亿左右这样的刚毛端。

They don't stick by Velcro or suction or glue.

它们并不是用于吸力、粘力或是尼龙搭扣的摩擦力。

They actually stick by intermolecular forces alone,

它们的吸附能力仅仅依靠分子间的作用力，

van der Waals forces.

也叫做范德华力。

And I'm really pleased to report to you today

今天我很高兴地告诉大家

that the first synthetic self-cleaning, dry adhesive has been made.

利用这个原理设计的自洁式干性黏结材料已经制成。

From the simplest version in nature, one branch,

从刚毛分叉这个简单的自然现象，

my engineering collaborator, Ron Fearing, at Berkeley,

我在伯克利的工程合作伙伴Ron Fearing

had made the first synthetic version.

发明了壁虎趾的合成版本。

And so has my other incredible collaborator,

另一个出色的合作伙伴也发明了相似的材料，

Mark Cutkosky, at Stanford --

他是斯坦福大学的Mark Cutkosky。

he made much larger hairs than the gecko,

尽管他用了比壁虎更大的刚毛

but used the same general principles.

但是工作原理却没有变。

And here is its first test.

这是第一次测试。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

That's Kellar Autumn, my former Ph.D. student,

这位是我曾指导过的博士Kellar Autumn，

professor now at Lewis and Clark,

现任路易斯－克拉克大学教授，

literally giving his first-born child up for this test.

为了测试甘愿牺牲自己的长女。

(Laughter)

(笑声)

More recently, this happened.

这是最近的一次试验。

Man: This the first time someone has actually climbed with it.

采访对象：这是这种材料第一次被用于攀墙。

Narrator: Lynn Verinsky, a professional climber,

解说：这位是专业攀登选手Lynn Verinsky

who appeared to be brimming with confidence.

她充满了信心。

Lynn Verinsky: Honestly, it's going to be perfectly safe. It will be perfectly safe.

Lynn Verinsky：老实说，这将是一次非常安全的试验。

Man: How do you know?

记者：你怎么知道？

Lynn Verinsky: Because of liability insurance. (Laughter)

Lynn Verinsky：因为我买了保险。

Narrator: With a mattress below and attached to a safety rope,

解说：在墙下放好床垫并系上安全绳，

Lynn began her 60-foot ascent.

Lynn开始了60英尺的攀登。

Lynn made it to the top in a perfect pairing

Lynn在好莱坞与科学完美的结合下

of Hollywood and science.

成功到达了顶端。

Man: So you're the first human being to officially emulate a gecko.

记者：你是第一个成功模仿壁虎的人。

Lynn Verinsky: Ha! Wow. And what a privilege that has been.

Lynn Verinsky：哈！喔。这让我觉得很特别。

Robert Full: That's what she did on rough surfaces.

Robert Full：这次试验是在粗糙墙壁上进行的。

But she actually used these on smooth surfaces --

她在光滑表面

two of them -- to climb up, and pull herself up.

也用这两个爬到过顶。

And you can try this in the lobby,

会后大家可以在大厅中自己尝试，

and look at the gecko-inspired material.

看看这些仿壁虎材料。

Now the problem with the robots doing this

要让机器人这么做有个问题

is that they can't get unstuck,

它们用这种材料粘上了以后

with the material.

松不开。

This is the gecko's solution. They actually peel their toes away

这是壁虎的解决方法。它们在爬墙时

from the surface, at high rates,

很快地从接触面

as they run up the wall.

把趾剥开。

Well I'm really excited today to show you

今天我很兴奋地展示给你们

the newest version of a robot, Stickybot,

一个崭新的机器人，Stickeybot。

using a new hierarchical dry adhesive.

它配备有仿壁虎的干性黏结材料。

Here is the actual robot.

这就是我说的机器人。

And here is what it does.

它是这样工作的。

And if you look,

请看，

you can see that it uses

它可以

the toe peeling,

剥开趾尖，

just like the gecko does.

和壁虎一样。

If we can show some of the video, you can see it climbing up the wall.

看它在录像中攀墙。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

There it is.

看。

And now it can go on other surfaces because of the new adhesive

它适用与各种表面。

that the Stanford group was able to do

因为斯坦福研究组发明的新型黏结材料

in designing this incredible robot.

用在了它的设计上。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Oh. One thing I want to point out is, look at Stickybot.

哦。还有一点要指出的，Stickybot

You see something on it. It's not just to look like a gecko.

它身上还有一样东西，不只是为了让它看起来像壁虎。

It has a tail. And just when you think you've figured out nature,

它有一条尾巴。当你刚自以为了解了自然，

this kind of thing happens.

新的问题又来了。

The engineers told us, for the climbing robots,

设计它的工程师们告诉我们，用于攀登的机器人

that, if they don't have a tail,

如果没有尾巴

they fall off the wall.

一定会从墙上摔下来。

So what they did was they asked us

他们向我们提出了一个

an important question.

重要的问题。

They said, "Well, it kind of looks like a tail."

他们说：“这个看起来像一个尾巴。”

Even though we put a passive bar there.

尽管这只是一个不能运动的塑料杆。

"Do animals use their tails when they climb up walls?"

“动物们在攀登中也用尾巴么？”

What they were doing was returning the favor,

这些工程师做的叫做“礼尚往来”，

by giving us a hypothesis to test,

还给我们一个可以测试的假设，

in biology, that we wouldn't have thought of.

而这个假设并没有在生物学界被考虑过。

So of course, in reality, we were then panicked,

当时，我们自然的很紧张，

being the biologists, and we should know this already.

作为生物学家，我们应该知道问题的答案。

We said, "Well, what do tails do?"

所以我们自问：“尾巴有什么用？”

Well we know that tails store fat, for example.

我们知道尾巴被用来储存脂肪，

We know that you can grab onto things with them.

用作附肢。

And perhaps it is most well known

可能最为大家所知的

that they provide static balance.

是尾巴在保持静态平衡上的作用。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It can also act as a counterbalance.

它也可以被用作配重。

So watch this kangaroo.

看这只袋鼠。

See that tail? That's incredible!

看那条尾巴，多么惊人！

Marc Raibert built a Uniroo hopping robot.

Marc Raibert设计了一个跳跃机器人Uniroo。

And it was unstable without its tail.

在没有尾巴的情况下，它无法保持平衡。

Now mostly tails limit maneuverability,

但另一个方面，尾巴限制了机动性。

like this human inside this dinosaur suit.

像这个穿恐龙服的人。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

My colleagues actually went on to test this limitation,

我的同事还专门测试了这个限制。

by increasing the moment of inertia of a student, so they had a tail,

通过增加一位学生的转动惯量，模拟尾巴的影响。

and running them through and obstacle course,

学生在障碍跑时

and found a decrement in performance,

机动性明显地降低了。

like you'd predict.

正如你所预料的。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

But of course, this is a passive tail.

但这是一个不能动的被动尾巴。

And you can also have active tails.

你也可以有一条能动的主动尾巴。

And when I went back to research this, I realized

我回去思考这个问题时，突然想到

that one of the great TED moments in the past,

在此前TED上

from Nathan,

我与Nanthan

we've talked about an active tail.

讨论过能动的尾巴。

Video: Myhrvold thinks tail-cracking dinosaurs

录像：Myhrvold认为有长尾巴的恐龙

were interested in love, not war.

兴趣在于交配，而非打斗。

Robert Full: He talked about the tail being a whip for communication.

Robert Full：他（Nanthan）介绍尾巴被当作鞭子用于交流。

It can also be used in defense.

用于自卫。

Pretty powerful.

很有力。

So we then went back and looked at the animal.

回到实验室，我们开始观察壁虎。

And we ran it up a surface.

让它攀登一个垂直表面。

But this time what we did is we put a slippery patch

但在表面上端有一节是会打滑的，

that you see in yellow there.

也就是录像中黄色部分。

And watch on the right what the animal is doing with its tail

再看右边，看它打滑后

when it slips. This is slowed down 10 times.

是如何用它的尾巴的。这是放慢10倍后。

So here is normal speed.

这是正常速度。

And watch it now slip,

看它打滑，

and see what it does with its tail.

看它的尾巴。

It has an active tail that functions as a fifth leg,

它的主动尾巴被用作第五条腿。

and it contributes to stability.

帮助保持平衡。

If you make it slip a huge amount, this is what we discovered.

如果让壁虎打滑得更多的话，我们就会看到这样。

This is incredible.

真是难以置信。

The engineers had a really good idea.

可见工程师们想了一个很好的主意。

And then of course we wondered,

之后我们想：

okay, they have an active tail, but let's picture them.

行，它们有一条能动的尾巴，让我们想像一下。

They're climbing up a wall, or a tree.

壁虎在爬墙，或是树。

And they get to the top and let's say there's some leaves there.

到了顶上，我们假设那里有一些叶子。

And what would happen if they climbed on the underside of that leaf,

当它们爬到了叶子的反面

and there was some wind, or we shook it?

如果刚好有风，或者我在摇树会怎样？

And we did that experiment, that you see here.

可以看到，我们做了这样的试验。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

And this is what we discovered.

这是我们的发现。

Now that's real time. You can't see anything.

正常速度，什么也看不到。

But there it is slowed down.

但是减速之后

What we discovered was the world's fastest air-righting response.

我们发现了世界上最快的空中姿势矫正反应。

For those of you who remember your physics, that's a zero-angular-momentum

还记得物理的听众知道这是一个零角动量的

righting response. But it's like a cat.

姿势矫正。像猫一样。

You know, cats falling. Cats do this. They twist their bodies.

猫在自由落体的时候，做相似的动作。它们扭转躯干。

But geckos do it better.

但壁虎做的更好。

And they do it with their tail.

它们利用尾巴。

So they do it with this active tail as they swing around.

在尾巴转圈的同事纠正姿势。

And then they always land in the sort of superman skydiving posture.

所以它们总是依像超人一样空中飞人的姿势落地。

Okay, now we wondered, if we were right,

我们进一步想到，如果这是真确的，

we should be able to test this in a physical model, in a robot.

应该可以用在机器人上。

So for TED we actually built a robot,

我们特地为TED制作了一个机器人，

over there, a prototype, with the tail.

在那边，一个有尾巴的机器人原型。

And we're going to attempt the first air-righting response

我们将在这里尝试在机器人上的第一次

in a tail, with a robot.

空中姿势矫正试验。

If we could have the lights on it.

给灯光。

Okay, there it goes.

开始⋯⋯

And show the video.

放录像。

There it is.

看。

And it works just like it does in the animal.

和壁虎尾巴的原理一样。

So all you need is a swing of the tail to right yourself.

只要甩动尾巴就可以纠正自己的姿势。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）

Now, of course, we were normally frightened

当然，我们对此非常吃惊

because the animal has no gliding adaptations,

因为壁虎没有滑翔的能力，

so we thought, "Oh that's okay. We'll put it in a vertical wind tunnel.

所以我们想：“没问题，把壁虎放在垂直的风洞中。”

We'll blow the air up, we'll give it a landing target, a tree trunk,

向上吹风，在风洞边放一根树干作为目的地，

just outside the plexi-glass enclosure, and see what it does.

看它怎么办。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So we did. And here is what it does.

我们就这么做了。看壁虎如何应对。

So the wind is coming from the bottom. This is slowed down 10 times.

风从下往上吹。放慢10倍。

It does an equilibrium glide. Highly controlled.

它在水平滑翔。控制得非常好。

This is sort of incredible. But actually it's quite beautiful,

令人难以置信。在照片上，

when you take a picture of it.

也很优美。

And it's better than that, it -- just in the slide -- maneuvers in mid-air.

还有更有趣的，它还可以在空中机动。

And the way it does it, is it takes its tail

用它的尾巴，

and it swings it one way to yaw left, and it swings its other way to yaw right.

向一边甩动转向左，向另一边甩动，转向右。

So we can maneuver this way.

可以这样机动。

And then -- we had to film this several times to believe this --

我们拍摄了很多次，才相信眼前所见。

it also does this. Watch this.

看，它还可以这样。

It oscillates its tail up and down like a dolphin.

像海豚一样上下摆动尾巴。

It can actually swim through the air.

在空中游动。

But watch its front legs. Can you see what they are doing?

但注意它的前腿。看的出来它在做什么么？

What does that mean for the origin of flapping flight?

联想这个动作对于研究飞行起源的意义。

Maybe it's evolved from coming down from trees,

也许飞行是动物从树上坠落，

and trying to control a glide.

试图控制滑翔而进化而来的。

Stay tuned for that.

这个问题值得关注。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So then we wondered, "Can they actually maneuver with this?"

我们又想：“壁虎真的能靠尾巴这样机动么？”

So there is the landing target. Could they steer towards it

这是叶子做的目的地。它们有没有能力滑翔过去呢？

with these capabilities? Here it is in the wind tunnel.

在风洞里。

And it certainly looks like it.

貌似可以。

You can see it even better from down on top.

从上往下的角度更清楚。

Watch the animal.

看它。

Definitely moving towards the landing target.

绝对是向目的地在机动。

Watch the whip of its tail as it does it. Look at that.

看它的尾巴。

It's unbelievable.

难以置信。

So now we were really confused,

我们被弄糊涂了。

because there are no reports of it gliding.

因为文献中并未记录壁虎拥有滑翔的能力。

So we went, "Oh my god, we have to go to the field,

所以我们决定，一定要去野外

and see if it actually does this."

看是否如此。

Completely opposite of the way you'd see it on a nature film, of course.

这个自然和大家在自然纪录片中看到的顺序截然相反。

We wondered, "Do they actually glide in nature?"

我们想：“自然界中，这种壁虎是否滑翔。”

Well we went to the forests of Singapore and Southeast Asia.

我们前往东南亚新加坡的森林中。

And the next video you see is the first time we've showed this.

下一个短片是我们第一次展示。

This is the actual video -- not staged, a real research video --

这个短片没用道具，没有作假，是第一手的科研数据。

of animal gliding down. There is a red trajectory line.

红色是它的滑翔轨迹。

Look at the end to see the animal.

结尾可以更清楚的看到壁虎。

But then as it gets closer to the tree,

当它接近树干时，

look at the close-up. And see if you can see it land.

看放大部分。能不能看到它着陆。

So there it comes down. There is a gecko at the end of that trajectory line.

这是它在下降。轨迹末端可以看到一只壁虎。

You see it there? There? Watch it come down.

看到没有？看它滑落。

Now watch up there and you can see the landing. Did you see it hit?

现在注意看着陆，看到没有？

It actually uses its tail too,

它确实用上了尾巴。

just like we saw in the lab.

和我们实验室里看到的一样。

So now we can continue this mutualism

继续一开始和工程师的互助互利，

by suggesting that they can make an active tail.

建议他们设计一条能动的尾巴。

And here is the first active tail, in the robot,

这是机器人上第一条能动的尾巴，

made by Boston Dynamics.

由波士顿动力公司研制。

So to conclude, I think we need to build biomutualisms, like I showed,

总结来说，我认为要进一步像我所介绍的这样，增强生物与其他学科的互动，

that will increase the pace of basic discovery in their application.

加快基础科学的研究与应用。

To do this though, we need to redesign education in a major way,

要做到这点，我们需要从根本上从新设计我们的教育，

to balance depth with interdisciplinary communication,

在深度与跨学科交互两个方面做到平衡。

and explicitly train people how to contribute to, and benefit from other disciplines.

专门训练能在多学科获利并贡献的人才。

And of course you need the organisms and the environment to do it.

当然，同时还需要良好的生态与环境。

That is, whether you care about security, search and rescue or health,

无论你关心国防、搜寻与救护还是医疗，

we must preserve nature's designs,

我们要保护自然，

otherwise these secrets will be lost forever.

不然自然界的秘密将被永远埋没。

And from what I heard from our new president,

就我们新总统的态度来看，

I'm very optimistic. Thank you.

我很乐观。谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）