How I built a jet suit | Richard Browning

譯者: Szu-Wen Kung 審譯者: Claire Wei

Michael Browning: engineer,

麥可．布朗寧是位工程師、

innovator --

創造家──

inventor, really --

更明確來說，是位發明家──

and inspiring father.

以及激勵人心的父親。

He had a passion for flight, as you can kind of sense

你們可以從他在 70 年代 收到的那張怪怪的離職禮物，

感受到他對飛行充滿熱忱。

from that rather dubious 1970s office-leaving present.

And some 40 years after that was created,

那張圖片創作 40 多年後，

a small group of us got together

一群人組成小團隊，

開始進行嘗試，

to have a go,

a run at the whole challenge of flight that inspired people for years,

全面展開飛行挑戰的測試， 多年來更鼓舞不少人，

and do it in a very different kind of way.

且是以迥然不同的方式進行。

And that's the journey I'd like to share with you now.

我現在想與各位分享這段旅程。

The starting hypothesis was one of the human mind and body,

一切起始於下列的假設： 也就是人類的身心，

which, as you've seen for the last few days here,

正如同各位過去幾天所見，

具備神奇的結構。

is an amazing construct.

What if you augmented that wonderful machine

如果結合科技與人體結構

with just the right technology?

If you approach flight in that kind of real way,

若真的透過這樣的方式飛行，

where could you get to?

又能引領我們到甚麼境界?

So my training partner here back in London, Denton,

所以這是我在位於 倫敦丹頓的訓練夥伴，

is doing a much better job of that kind of stuff than me.

他做起這樣的嘗試比我更在行。

Guess what? It's London.

想像得到嗎？那是倫敦。

The idea was that you augment that.

一個想法就是你去擴增它。

And so, how do you augment that?

該如何擴增？

Well, we bought one of these.

我們買了一台這個機器。

This is a micro gas turbine.

這是小型天然氣渦輪機。

This was ground zero,

這是起始點，

so that little piece of kit proved really quite impressive,

事實證明這台小機器 功效頗為強大。

so we got two in a field.

所以我們帶了兩台到草原上。

The real hero here, by the way, is, right in the background,

這裡真正的英雄 其實在畫面的後方，

there's a lady tending some vegetables,

有位女士在照料蔬菜，

who does a brilliant job of trying to ignore us for a while --

她好厲害試圖忽略我們……

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I think the only thing less happy is the grass,

現場唯一不快樂的應該是草皮，

that we did probably damage quite badly.

我們的確帶來不小的傷害。

You get an idea of the thrust here,

從影片大概可以了解推力的運作，

when I try to hold them horizontally and somewhat fail.

當渦輪機呈水平狀態 便無法順利運作。

影片中的推動力約有 50 公斤。

That's around 50 kilos of thrust there.

We were quite impressed with that.

這讓我們感到驚豔，

我們認為算是有點進展。

We thought we were getting somewhere.

So there's only one sensible way to go from there:

唯一合理的改進方式是：

you get four.

用四個渦輪機。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I have to say, I still like watching these back.

我必須說這些影片我百看不厭。

然後我們試著分配重量，

So then we thought well, let's try and spread the load a bit.

承受重量的主要是雙腿，

The legs are designed to take the load,

為何不乾脆以其他方式分攤重量?

so why don't we spread it out a bit?

That bit was good.

腿部的裝置挺好，

降落傘背帶──

The harness --

a nice idea but it didn't really work,

是不錯的想法，但卻行不通。

as you'll see now.

如同你現在所看到的。

整趟的過程基本上就是不斷嘗試，

This whole journey was very much about trying things --

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Yeah, it really didn't work, did it?

真的行不太通，對吧？

Trying things and learning by failing at them most of the time.

持續嘗試又從一次次的失敗中學習。

And that included failing by falling over.

也包括不斷的摔跤。

If you notice, we've got five engines here --

如果仔細看會發現 我們穿上五個渦輪機，

其中還有一個在保養中，

not to be put off by the fact one was in maintenance,

still had a go.

但我們仍繼續試試看。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

And then I pinched a fuel line.

然後我壓到了油料管線一下。

不是一個良好的嘗試， 我們學著不再重蹈覆轍。

So again, good learning. We learned not to do that again.

This was a blind alley.

根本死路一條。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

This was three on each arm --

影片中每條手臂安裝三個渦輪機，

是很誇張沒錯，

that was ridiculous.

That was 70 kilos on each arm.

等於每隻手臂負重七十公斤，

Again, struck that one off.

同樣地，此法也行不通。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But we were starting to make some really quite convincing progress,

但我們開始有使人信服的小突破，

足夠使大家信服，

just enough to make you believe that maybe --

maybe we could get there.

也許我們真的辦得到。

You can see, look -- tantalizing.

這段畫面看起來很吸引人。

The model of one on each leg and two on each arm,

每條腿裝上一個推動器 每條手臂則各裝上兩個。

on paper, that was enough thrust.

理論上來說 會產生足夠的推動力。

And then we did what I'm about to show you now,

接下來我們做到了 我即將展示給各位觀看的，

and I still love watching this one.

這段影片我仍百看不厭。

This was our first six-second, reasonably coherent flight.

這是我們首次 維持長達六秒的平穩飛行，

(Applause)

（掌聲）

That was the point where this endeavor went from:

此突破也勾勒出整個嘗試的過程：

從「我真的不確定， 到底行不行得通。」

"I'm really not sure this is going to work,"

到「我的老天爺，我們做到了！」

to: "Oh my god, it does work!"

From there on we then refined it,

從這個小突破我們加以修正改良，

but we carried on falling over a lot.

整個過程還是常常摔跤，

在我看來跌一跤， 絕對是最佳的學習途徑。

Falling over, like I say, is definitely the best way to learn.

After a while, we starting really refining the layout of all of this.

過沒多久我們開始調整改良裝備，

And you'll see, that's stability and control --

如你們眼前所見 飛的更穩和控制得當。

there's no wires there or anything --

身上也沒有亂七八糟的線路，

我們的手法是將科技加以調整精進，

that's a combination of us refining the technology,

including with a Tupperware box on the back for the electronics

包括以保鮮盒保護渦輪機，

and actually learning the balance and control.

加上學習平衡與控制。

現在我想替大家保養一下耳朵，

I'm now going to save your ears for the next short piece

下面這個短片我用說的帶過去。

and talk over it.

因為聽了一陣子之後 引擎聲音還真有點煩人。

After a while, the jet engine noise is a bit annoying.

也才沒幾個禮拜前的事情。

This is only a few weeks ago.

You can see the stability and control is really quite nice,

你可以看到已經達到 不錯的穩定性和控制力，

and I'd like to think this somewhat validates that starting hypothesis,

我想這似乎驗證一開始的假設，

that the human mind and body, if properly augmented in that way,

也就是人類身心的優勢 若能適切地加以擴增 ，

可以做到不少挺酷的事情。

can achieve some pretty cool stuff.

I mean, like I said:

我的意思是說：

我沒有想在這個階段 我該如何擺動我的手臂，

I'm not thinking about where I'm moving my arms at that stage.

I'm looking at the objective of where I want to get to,

而是確立我想達到的目的地。

and a bit like riding a bike,

這跟騎腳踏車有點類似，

my arms are just doing their thing.

我們的雙臂僅是善盡本分。

It's a very strange experience.

這是很奇特的經驗。

So where is all this headed?

所以接下來一切會怎麼進行？

I'll talk over this landing --

我要談的是我們想達到甚麼？

I think I land in this one.

這也是我的重點。

Well, I don't think anybody's going to go down to Walmart

我不認為有人會這樣飛去大賣場，

或沒多久後就穿戴 這種裝置帶小孩上學，

or take the kids to school in any of this stuff for a while,

but the team at Gravity are building some awesome technology

但在重力飛行公司的小組 正在創建幾項優異的科技，

that's going to make this look like child's play.

能夠讓此一想法變得更有趣。

We're working on some things

我們目前致力於幾項重點，

期望能夠將非比尋常的飛行經驗，

that will seek to bring this unusual experience of flight

to a wider audience, beyond the events and displays we're doing.

超越現今的展示規模推廣給大眾。

We're even starting to look for pilots two and three,

我們甚至開始尋找 機長二號和三號，

if there's any volunteers.

如果有志願者的話最好。

I've got this vision.

我的願景是，

It sounds audacious, but let's just stick it out there,

聽起來大膽 不過讓我們一起堅持到底，

that one day maybe we can rise up above a beach,

我希望有天我們能夠在沙灘上起飛，

fly up and down the coastline of it, rise up a bit higher,

沿著海岸線自由高低 飛翔並且越飛越高，

with some of the safety kit we're working on to make this achievable.

配合安全裝置 我們正朝此目標奮進。

Then over the horizon comes a Hercules with the ramp down.

然後大力士運輸機，出現在海平面。

As it comes past, you start picking up speed

當它從身旁飛過，你開始加速，

and see if we can intercept --

看能不能攔截它，

而且是從後面不是前面 要不就會犯大錯──

from the rear, not the front, that would be a mistake --

and then try and land in the back.

然後試著降落在運輸機上。

And as I say, that's a little way off at the moment.

如我所說距此夢想還有段距離。

But this is also, if I take a big step back from this,

但是這也是，若我退一步來說，

this is also a very personal journey for me.

這對我而言是段 充滿個人情感的旅程。

Back to that lovely photo,

回到這張美妙的照片，

或是圖像化的照片。

or photo in a picture.

Sadly, my father took his own life when I was 15,

難過的是我父親 在我 15 歲那年自殺，

and left an awful lot of unfulfilled ambition.

徒留下一堆未盡之志。

He was a wonderful inventor,

他是位很棒的發明家，

a maverick creator.

獨排眾議的創造家。

And I'd just like to think, if it was possible,

我在想如果有可能的話，

if he was looking down,

如果他在天之靈有看到的話，

he would be --

他會──

he'd certainly be smiling at some of the things we've done here,

對我們現在做的事情 他臉上肯定會出現一抹微笑。

I think.

我是這麼想的。

所以這是我對他致敬的方式。

So, it's a tribute to him.

Thank you very much.

謝謝各位。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

（旁白）理查．布朗寧： 我可能對之後要做的示範，

(Voice-over) Richard Browning: I'm probably more nervous

about doing the demo after this.

感到更緊張。

I've got a lot of things to get done today.

我今天有好多事要做，

Worst-case scenario, we don't get a clean start.

最糟糕的狀況是 我們有個不順利的開始，

Or we get an unplanned failure while I'm actually flying around.

或者當我真的開始飛後 出現意料之外的失敗。

This is why we keep it very low,

這也是為何我們保持低飛。

so the worst is I just look like an idiot and fall on my rear, as I said.

這樣我頂多看起來像個 跌坐在地的白癡而已。

若真的成功，你們將會很享受。

So you can all enjoy that if that happens.

（音樂）

(Music)

（引擎加速聲）

(Jet engine accelerates)

(Cheers)

（歡呼）