Rodney Brooks: Why we will rely on robots

194,893 views ・ 2013-06-28

TED


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翻译人员: Yan SU 校对人员: Li Li
00:13
Well, Arthur C. Clarke,
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亚瑟·查理斯·克拉克,
00:14
a famous science fiction writer from the 1950s,
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是上个世纪五十年代的一位著名科幻小说作家,
00:17
said that, "We overestimate technology in the short term,
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他曾说:“从短期来看,我们高估了科技;
00:21
and we underestimate it in the long term."
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而从长远来看,我们又低估了科技。“
00:24
And I think that's some of the fear that we see
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我认为我们担心工作会消失的部分焦虑
00:26
about jobs disappearing from artificial intelligence and robots.
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来自对人工智能和机器人的恐惧。
00:31
That we're overestimating the technology in the short term.
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可以说,我们在短时间内正在高估科技。
不过我担心的是,而从长远来看,我们能不能获得所需要的科技。
00:34
But I am worried whether we're going to get the technology we need in the long term.
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00:39
Because the demographics are really going to leave us with lots of jobs that need doing
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因为人口结构的改变真的会留给我们一大堆的工作去做。
00:45
and that we, our society, is going to have to be built on the shoulders of steel of robots in the future.
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我们将不得不依靠机器人的“钢铁臂膀”去建造我们未来的社会。
00:50
So I'm scared we won't have enough robots.
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所以我担心未来会没有足够的机器人。
00:53
But fear of losing jobs to technology has been around for a long time.
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但是担心因科技而丢掉工作的恐惧为时已久。
00:57
Back in 1957, there was a Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn movie.
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早在1957年,有一部由史宾塞·屈赛和凯瑟琳·赫本主演的电影《电脑风云(Desk Set)》。
01:01
So you know how it ended up,
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你们一定知道结局如何,
01:03
Spencer Tracy brought a computer, a mainframe computer of 1957, in
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史宾塞·屈赛买了一台电脑,一台1957年的大型电脑,
01:07
to help the librarians.
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用来帮助图书管理员。
01:09
The librarians in the company would do things like answer for the executives,
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那家公司的图书管理员的工作是回答高管们的问题:
“圣诞老人的驯鹿叫什么名字呀?”
01:13
"What are the names of Santa's reindeer?"
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01:16
And they would look that up.
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然后他们会去查一查。
01:17
And this mainframe computer was going to help them with that job.
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这台大型电脑会帮他们干那样的活儿。
01:20
Well of course a mainframe computer in 1957 wasn't much use for that job.
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当然了,1957年的一台大型电脑根本干不了那样的活儿。
01:24
The librarians were afraid their jobs were going to disappear.
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但是图书管理员们还是担心会丢掉他们的工作。
01:27
But that's not what happened in fact.
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其实根本没有担心的必要。
01:29
The number of jobs for librarians increased for a long time after 1957.
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1957年后很长的一段时间里,图书管理员的工作数量有所提高。
01:34
It wasn't until the Internet came into play,
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直到互联网、
01:37
the web came into play and search engines came into play
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网站和各种搜索引擎走进人们的生活,
01:40
that the need for librarians went down.
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对图书管理员的需求才开始减少。
01:42
And I think everyone from 1957 totally underestimated
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我认为1957年的每一个人都彻底低估了
01:46
the level of technology we would all carry around in our hands and in our pockets today.
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我们今天的科技水平。比如掌上科技,
01:51
And we can just ask: "What are the names of Santa's reindeer?" and be told instantly --
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我们今天可以对着手机说:“圣诞老人的驯鹿叫什么名字?”马上就能得到答案……
01:57
or anything else we want to ask.
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问什么都行。
01:59
By the way, the wages for librarians went up faster
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顺便说一下,图书管理员们的工资涨得
02:04
than the wages for other jobs in the U.S. over that same time period,
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比美国同期其他工作的工资要快,
因为图书管理员成了电脑们的搭档。
02:08
because librarians became partners of computers.
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02:11
Computers became tools, and they got more tools that they could use
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电脑成了工具,图书管理员们有了更多可用工具后,
02:14
and become more effective during that time.
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他们的工作效率大大提高。
02:16
Same thing happened in offices.
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这种事儿也发生在办公室里。
02:18
Back in the old days, people used spreadsheets.
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过去,人们使用报表。
02:20
Spreadsheets were spread sheets of paper,
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就是那种纸制棋盘式对照表格,
02:22
and they calculated by hand.
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用于笔算。
02:25
But here was an interesting thing that came along.
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之后发生了一件有意思的事情。
02:27
With the revolution around 1980 of P.C.'s,
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随着二十世纪八十年代的个人电脑革命,
02:29
the spreadsheet programs were tuned for office workers,
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电子表格软件不但没有取代办公室一族,
02:34
not to replace office workers,
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反倒受到了他们的青睐,
02:36
but it respected office workers as being capable of being programmers.
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办公族摇身变为程序设计师,
02:40
So office workers became programmers of spreadsheets.
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他们成了电子表格的程序设计师。
02:43
It increased their capabilities.
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电子表格增强了他们的能力。
02:45
They no longer had to do the mundane computations,
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办公族再也不用做无聊的笔算,
02:48
but they could do something much more.
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他们可以做更多的事儿。
02:51
Now today, we're starting to see robots in our lives.
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如今,我们开始审视机器人在我们生活中的作用。
02:54
On the left there is the PackBot from iRobot.
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左边的是由iRobot公司研发的PackBot机器人。
02:57
When soldiers came across roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan,
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以前,当士兵们在伊拉克和阿富汗遇到路边炸弹时,
03:00
instead of putting on a bomb suit and going out and poking with a stick,
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他们会穿上防爆衣并后退,然后用小棍儿去捅炸弹,
03:04
as they used to do up until about 2002,
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在2002年以前他们就是这么干的,
03:06
they now send the robot out.
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现在,他们会让机器人去搞定。
03:08
So the robot takes over the dangerous jobs.
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可见,机器人接管了危险性工作。
03:10
On the right are some TUGs from a company called Aethon in Pittsburgh.
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右边的是位于匹兹堡的Aethon公司研制的TUG机器人。
03:15
These are in hundreds of hospitals across the U.S.
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美国有数百家医院正在使用这种机器人。
03:17
And they take the dirty sheets down to the laundry.
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它们把脏布单送进洗衣房;
03:20
They take the dirty dishes back to the kitchen.
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它们把脏盘子送回厨房;
03:21
They bring the medicines up from the pharmacy.
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它们从药房取药;
03:24
And it frees up the nurses and the nurse's aides
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而且这种机器人可以让护士和护士助手
03:26
from doing that mundane work of just mechanically pushing stuff around
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从机械无聊的跑腿工作中解脱出来
03:30
to spend more time with patients.
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好腾出他们的时间去照顾病人。
03:32
In fact, robots have become sort of ubiquitous in our lives in many ways.
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事实上,机器人已经存在于我们生活中的许多方面,差不多是无处不在。
03:37
But I think when it comes to factory robots, people are sort of afraid,
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但是,我感觉,工业机器人还是会让人生畏,
03:42
because factory robots are dangerous to be around.
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因为旁边有工业机器人会让人感觉很危险。
03:46
In order to program them, you have to understand six-dimensional vectors and quaternions.
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因为要想对它们进行编程,你就必须懂得六维向量和四元数。
03:51
And ordinary people can't interact with them.
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一般人没法与这些工业机器人交互。
03:54
And I think it's the sort of technology that's gone wrong.
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我觉得这种科技走错了方向。
03:57
It's displaced the worker from the technology.
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因为这种科技取代了工作者。
04:00
And I think we really have to look at technologies
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我们真正需要的是
04:04
that ordinary workers can interact with.
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那种可以和普通工作者互动的科技。
04:06
And so I want to tell you today about Baxter, which we've been talking about.
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所以我今天要隆重推荐巴克斯特(Baxter),它是我们需要的那种工业机器人。
04:09
And Baxter, I see, as a way -- a first wave of robot
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我认为巴克斯特掀起了第一个机器人浪潮——
04:14
that ordinary people can interact with in an industrial setting.
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一个普通人可以和工业装置互动的浪潮。
04:18
So Baxter is up here.
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让我们请出巴克斯特。
04:19
This is Chris Harbert from Rethink Robotics.
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这位是克里斯·哈伯特,他为Rethink Robotics公司工作。
04:22
We've got a conveyor there.
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那边有个输送带。
04:24
And if the lighting isn't too extreme --
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光线是不是太强了……
04:27
Ah, ah! There it is. It's picked up the object off the conveyor.
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啊!看那儿。它从输送带上拾起一件东西。
04:31
It's going to come bring it over here and put it down.
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它把东西拿到这边,然后放下。
04:34
And then it'll go back, reach for another object.
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完成后,它会回到原位再找另一件东西。
04:37
The interesting thing is Baxter has some basic common sense.
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有意思的是,巴克斯特有个基本的能力。
04:41
By the way, what's going on with the eyes?
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你可能要问,那对眼睛是怎么回事?
04:43
The eyes are on the screen there.
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就是它屏幕上的那对眼睛。
这对眼睛会瞅着这个机器人的移动方向。
04:45
The eyes look ahead where the robot's going to move.
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04:47
So a person that's interacting with the robot
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这样,人们就可以和这个机器人互动
04:49
understands where it's going to reach and isn't surprised by its motions.
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明白会朝什么地方移动,而不会被它的动作吓着。
04:53
Here Chris took the object out of its hand,
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克里斯现在从它的“手”中拿走东西,
04:55
and Baxter didn't go and try to put it down;
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巴克斯特没有去和克里斯争执。
04:58
it went back and realized it had to get another one.
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它回到原位,并意识到得去拿另一件东西。
05:00
It's got a little bit of basic common sense, goes and picks the objects.
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这就是它的小本事——去拾东西。
05:03
And Baxter's safe to interact with.
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和巴克斯特互动是安全的。
05:05
You wouldn't want to do this with a current industrial robot.
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但你肯定不敢和生产线上的工业机器人互动。
05:08
But with Baxter it doesn't hurt.
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巴克斯特很温柔。
05:10
It feels the force, understands that Chris is there
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它能感觉到外力,知道克里斯在旁边
05:14
and doesn't push through him and hurt him.
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而且不会硬去推他或伤害他。
05:17
But I think the most interesting thing about Baxter is the user interface.
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最有意思的是巴克斯特的用户界面。
05:20
And so Chris is going to come and grab the other arm now.
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现在克里斯要过来握住巴克斯特的另一只“手”。
05:23
And when he grabs an arm, it goes into zero-force gravity-compensated mode
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当他握住它的”手“时,它会进入“零力重力补偿”模式
05:29
and graphics come up on the screen.
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各种图案会显示在它的屏幕上。
05:31
You can see some icons on the left of the screen there for what was about its right arm.
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你可以看到屏幕左边有一些图标,就是我们的右边。
05:35
He's going to put something in its hand, he's going to bring it over here,
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克里斯要把一件东西塞到它的“手”里,他要把它挪到这儿,
按一下按钮,然后放下“手”里的东西。
05:39
press a button and let go of that thing in the hand.
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05:43
And the robot figures out, ah, he must mean I want to put stuff down.
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这个机器人明白了,啊,他是想让我把东西放下。
05:48
It puts a little icon there.
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它在那个位置上放一个小图标。
05:49
He comes over here, and he gets the fingers to grasp together,
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克里斯走过来,他把机器人的“手指”握起来,
05:55
and the robot infers, ah, you want an object for me to pick up.
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机器人会推断,啊,你想让我拾起一件东西。
05:59
That puts the green icon there.
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然后在那个位置放一个绿色图标。
06:01
He's going to map out an area of where the robot should pick up the object from.
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他会划出机器人应该拾东西的区域。
06:06
It just moves it around, and the robot figures out that was an area search.
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机器人会在那个区域搜索要拾的东西。
06:11
He didn't have to select that from a menu.
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克里斯其实不用从菜单里选择。
06:13
And now he's going to go off and train the visual appearance of that object
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现在他得在后面训练那件东西的视觉显示
06:16
while we continue talking.
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我们在前面继续讲。
06:18
So as we continue here,
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我们继续,
06:20
I want to tell you about what this is like in factories.
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我想告诉你们这个机器人在生产车间里的使用情况。
06:22
These robots we're shipping every day.
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我们每天都会运出这些机器人。
06:23
They go to factories around the country.
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它们会被送往全国各地的生产车间。
06:25
This is Mildred.
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这位是米尔德蕾。
06:26
Mildred's a factory worker in Connecticut.
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米尔德蕾是康涅狄格州一家工厂的工人。
06:28
She's worked on the line for over 20 years.
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她已经在生产线上工作了20年。
在她见到她的第一个工业机器人的一个小时候后,
06:31
One hour after she saw her first industrial robot,
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06:33
she had programmed it to do some tasks in the factory.
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她就已经给它布置了车间里的一些活儿。
06:37
She decided she really liked robots.
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她于是喜欢上了机器人。
06:39
And it was doing the simple repetitive tasks that she had had to do beforehand.
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因为机器人可以帮她干以前要她去做的那些简单重复的活儿。
06:44
Now she's got the robot doing it.
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现在,她可以让机器人去搞定。
06:45
When we first went out to talk to people in factories
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我们第一次到生产车间里和人们交谈的时候
06:48
about how we could get robots to interact with them better,
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就是谈谈我们怎么才能让这些机器人和它们更好的互动,
06:51
one of the questions we asked them was,
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我们问的其中一个问题是,
“你们想不想让你们的孩子在工厂里工作?”
06:53
"Do you want your children to work in a factory?"
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06:55
The universal answer was "No, I want a better job than that for my children."
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异口同声的回答是:“不想,我想让我的孩子有份比那种好的工作。”
06:59
And as a result of that, Mildred is very typical
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可想而知,米尔德蕾是典型的
07:03
of today's factory workers in the U.S.
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美国当今的工厂工人。
07:04
They're older, and they're getting older and older.
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这些工人日渐衰老。
07:07
There aren't many young people coming into factory work.
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但是没有多少年轻人到工厂工作。
她们的工作任务变得更加繁重,
07:10
And as their tasks become more onerous on them,
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07:13
we need to give them tools that they can collaborate with,
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我们需要提供能够协同配合他们工作的工具,
07:16
so that they can be part of the solution,
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这样,这些工人就能成为解决方案的一部分,
他们能继续工作,美国就能继续生产。
07:18
so that they can continue to work and we can continue to produce in the U.S.
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07:22
And so our vision is that Mildred who's the line worker
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我们的目标是让像米尔德蕾这样的生产线上的工人
07:26
becomes Mildred the robot trainer.
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成为机器人培训师。
07:29
She lifts her game,
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米尔德蕾成为了机器人时代的玩家,
07:30
like the office workers of the 1980s lifted their game of what they could do.
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就像二十世纪八十年代的办公族成为了个人电脑时代的玩家那样。
07:35
We're not giving them tools that they have to go and study for years and years in order to use.
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我们不会交给他们那种要花几年时间去学才能上手的工具。
这些工具只需他们花几分钟时间就能上手。
07:40
They're tools that they can just learn how to operate in a few minutes.
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07:43
There's two great forces that are both volitional but inevitable.
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有两个咄咄逼人但却无法避免的强大力量,
07:47
That's climate change and demographics.
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就是气候变化和人口结构的变化。
07:50
Demographics is really going to change our world.
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人口结构的变化真的会改变我们的世界。
07:52
This is the percentage of adults who are working age.
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这是适龄工作成年人的百分比。
07:56
And it's gone down slightly over the last 40 years.
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在过去的40年里,这一百分比略有下降。
但是在未来40年里,这一百分比会发生巨大变化,即使是在中国。
07:59
But over the next 40 years, it's going to change dramatically, even in China.
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适龄工作成年人的百分比急剧下降。
08:03
The percentage of adults who are working age drops dramatically.
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08:08
And turned up the other way, the people who are retirement age goes up very, very fast,
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从另一种方面来看,退休年龄的人数急剧上升,
08:13
as the baby boomers get to retirement age.
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因为在婴儿潮时代出生的人都到了退休年龄。
08:17
That means there will be more people with fewer social security dollars
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这意味着,将有越来越多的人拿到更少的社会保障金
08:20
competing for services.
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去争取有限的服务。
08:23
But more than that, as we get older we get more frail
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不仅如此,上了年纪以后,我们的身体也会变得更加虚弱
08:27
and we can't do all the tasks we used to do.
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我们就不能再做以前能做的事儿。
08:29
If we look at the statistics on the ages of caregivers,
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如果看看护理人员的年龄统计数据,
08:33
before our eyes those caregivers are getting older and older.
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就会发现护理人员的年龄越来越大。
08:38
That's happening statistically right now.
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这是统计学所得出来的结论。
08:40
And as the number of people who are older, above retirement age and getting older, as they increase,
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随着年龄的增长,会有许多人超过退休年龄,而且他们的年纪会越来越大,
08:46
there will be less people to take care of them.
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就会有越来越少的人能照顾他们。
08:48
And I think we're really going to have to have robots to help us.
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我觉得,我们真得找机器人帮忙。
我不是说找机器人伴侣,
08:51
And I don't mean robots in terms of companions.
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08:53
I mean robots doing the things that we normally do for ourselves
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而是说让机器人帮我们干我们平时干的那些活儿
08:57
but get harder as we get older.
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那些我们上年纪的时候干不好的活儿。
08:58
Getting the groceries in from the car, up the stairs, into the kitchen.
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什么把买的东西从车里拿出来呀,拿上楼呀,送进厨房之类的活儿。
甚至是,当我们年事已高的时候,
09:02
Or even, as we get very much older,
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09:04
driving our cars to go visit people.
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让机器人开车带我们去串门。
09:07
And I think robotics gives people a chance to have dignity as they get older
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我认为,机器人可以给那些上了年纪的人获得尊严的机会,
09:13
by having control of the robotic solution.
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因为他们可以控制机器人解决方案。
09:17
So they don't have to rely on people that are getting scarcer to help them.
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他们也就不用依靠越来越少的人去帮助他们。
09:20
And so I really think that we're going to be spending more time
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我真觉得,我们可以和机器人和谐共处更长的时间,
09:27
with robots like Baxter
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和像巴克斯特这样的机器人
09:29
and working with robots like Baxter in our daily lives. And that we will --
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在我们的生活中一起干活儿。
09:36
Here, Baxter, it's good.
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噢也,巴克斯特!
09:38
And that we will all come to rely on robots over the next 40 years
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在未来40年里,我们都回需要机器人的帮助
09:43
as part of our everyday lives.
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让它们在日常生活中发挥作用。
09:45
Thanks very much.
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非常感谢!
09:46
(Applause)
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(掌声)
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