Nick Sears: Presenting the Orb

譯者: Yung Hsiang Tseng 審譯者: Dennis Lin

In 1962, Buckminster Fuller

1952年，巴克敏斯特·富勒(譯註：美國發明家)

presented the particularly audacious proposal for the Geoscope.

提出了"虛擬地球"的大膽概念

It was a 200-foot diameter geodesic sphere

那是個直徑200呎的測地球體

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

並將其懸掛在紐約的東河上，能看到聯合國大廈的位置

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

這的確很大膽，他也深信

and deeply affect the decision making of this body

藉由這個球體所反映出的

through animations of global data, trends

全球議題、趨勢以及數據

and other information regarding the globe, on this sphere.

能對握有決定權的聯合國產生影響

And today, 45 years later,

在45年後的今日

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

我們仍然需要這種清晰的觀點

but what we do have is improved technology.

然而，現代科技日新月異

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

我們已不需使用上百萬顆燈泡去創造一個球體

We can use LEDs.

我們可以用LED燈

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

LED燈有體積小、便宜、耐久、效率高的優點

Most importantly for this, they're faster.

最重要的是，LED燈的轉速更快

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

以它的速度，搭配上今天的高性能微控制器

allows us to actually simulate, in this piece,

讓我們只用64顆LED燈

over 17,000 LEDs -- using just 64.

就能模擬出一萬七千顆LED燈的效果

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

其原理是利用眼睛的視覺暫留現象來達到效果

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

它每分鐘轉動1700圈，即每秒28圈

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

赤道那邊的速度會高達時速60英里

There are four on-board micro-controllers

這裡面有四個微控制器

that, each time this ring rotates

每當球體旋轉

it, as it passes the rear of the display,

通過後方的基座時

it picks up a position signal.

它會接收到一個位置訊號

And from that, the on-board micro-controllers

藉由這個訊號，球體內的微控制器

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

就能推斷出整個球體在旋轉時的位置

and display arbitrary bitmap images and animations.

進而隨心所欲地產生各種圖像和影像

But this is really just the beginning.

但這只是起始階段

In addition to higher resolution versions of this display,

除了研發更高解析度的球體之外

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

我的父親和我正在申請一項新設計的專利

for a fully volumetric display using the same phenomenon.

一個運用相同原理製造3D圖像的技術

It achieves this by rotating LEDs about two axes.

只是它以兩個軌道來旋轉LED燈

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

如各位所見，這是個直徑11吋的電路板

These blocks represent LEDs.

這些區塊代表LED燈

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

當這個圓盤跟著整個基座轉動時

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

就會產生一個可自由操控的光圈

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

沒什麼特別，這只是個螺旋槳時鐘罷了

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

你也可以在車上裝一個

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

比較新奇的是，當這個圓盤本身也在旋轉時

this disc of light actually becomes a sphere of light.

這個光圈就會變成一顆"光球"

And so we can control that with micro-controllers

所以我們能夠利用微控制器

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

再加上256顆LED燈，製造出3D球體

Now this piece is currently in process --

這個裝置尚在研發中

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

預計五月問世，但我們作了一個簡單的示範

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

讓大家看看LED燈如何變成一顆光球

I've got a little video to show you,

現在我們就來看一下影片

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

但請記住，它還沒裝上控制器

and this is also with only four LEDs.

而且只用了4顆LED燈

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

大概是成品的百分之1.5而已

So, take a look.

那麼就來看看吧

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

現在只有基座在旋轉，以產生光圈

And then, as the other axis kicks in,

現在圓盤也開始旋轉了

those actually blur into a volume.

漸漸變成一顆光球

And the shutter speed of the camera

這是利用相機曝光捕捉到的畫面

actually makes it slightly less effective in this case.

但不是很有效

But this piece is due out in May.

這個裝置將在五月份與大家見面

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

並且在春季互動電信展上公開展出

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

就在紐約的格林威治村

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

我強烈推薦各位去參加，因為那真的很棒

There are hundreds of student innovators with fantastic projects.

會有上百名學生帶著他們的傑作到場展出

This piece, actually, will be on display

這個儀器當然也不會缺席

down in the Sierra Simulcast Lounge

它將在 Sierra Simulcast 大廳展出

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

直到展覽結束

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

所以，我誠摯地邀請大家

to come down and take a closer look.

有空過來走走看看

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

很榮幸能來這裡演講，謝謝各位

(Applause)

(掌聲)