Robert Full: Learning from the gecko's tail

譯者: Marie Wu 審譯者: Terry Lin

Let me share with you today an original discovery.

我今天要告訴各位一項新的發現，

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

我要以事件發生的原貌呈現給各位，

not the way I present it in a scientific meeting,

我不想讓你們有參與科學會議報告、

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

或是閱讀科學期刊的感覺。

It's a story about beyond biomimetics,

這件事超越了生物模仿學，

to something I'm calling biomutualism.

我把它叫做「互惠生物學」。

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

我把這個學科定義為生物學與其他學科間的互動，

where each discipline reciprocally advances the other,

每一個學科都會互相受惠於其他學科，

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

但是集眾學科之力，其成果將超越單一學科領域。

Now, in terms of biomimetics,

以生物模仿學來說，

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

由於人類科技從自然界學習到許多東西，

nature becomes a much more useful teacher.

大自然就成了一個全能的老師。

Engineering can be inspired by biology

工程學則受生物學之啟發，

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

在運用生物學的原理和功能後獲益良多。

but then integrating that with the best human engineering,

將二者相結合之後，

ultimately to make something actually better than nature.

最終我們將能發展出超越大自然的科技。

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

身為一個生物學家，我對這個很好奇，

These are gecko toes.

這些是壁虎的腳趾，

And we wondered how they use these bizarre toes

我們很好奇為什麼他們能用這麼神奇的腳趾

to climb up a wall so quickly.

在牆上迅速地爬行。

We discovered it. And what we found was

我們發現，

that they have leaf-like structures on their toes,

他們的腳趾有像樹葉一樣的結構，

with millions of tiny hairs that look like a rug,

上面長滿了數以百萬計的細微毛髮，就像毛毯一樣。

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

這些細微的毛髮末端嚴重地分叉，

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

每一個末端都有一百到一千個奈米級的分叉。

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

一隻壁虎身上大約有二億個這種奈米級的分叉。

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

他們不是靠魔鬼氈、吸力或是黏膠去吸附在牆上，

They actually stick by intermolecular forces alone,

而是利用分子間的作用力來吸附，

van der Waals forces.

又稱范氏引力。

And I'm really pleased to report to you today

我很高興告訴各位，

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

世界上第一個人工合成、完全不沾黏的乾性黏著劑已經誕生了。

From the simplest version in nature, one branch,

從自然界的壁虎身上，

my engineering collaborator, Ron Fearing, at Berkeley,

和我一起共同研究的工程學家Ron Fearing，

had made the first synthetic version.

在柏克萊製作了第一個人工合成的仿壁虎黏著劑。

And so has my other incredible collaborator,

還有另一個與我一起研究的科學家

Mark Cutkosky, at Stanford --

Mark Cutkosky，

he made much larger hairs than the gecko,

在史丹福製作了比壁虎大上許多的毛髮，

but used the same general principles.

但也運用相同的原理。

And here is its first test.

這是他們的第一次測試。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

那是Kellar Autumn，之前是我的博士班學生，

professor now at Lewis and Clark,

目前在路易斯暨克拉克大學擔任教授，

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

他把他的老大拿來測試。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

More recently, this happened.

最近，還有這件事。

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

男人：這是第一次有人用這種東西進行攀爬。

Narrator: Lynn Verinsky, a professional climber,

旁白：Lynn Verinsky是個職業攀爬者，

who appeared to be brimming with confidence.

看起來充滿自信。

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

Lynn Verinsky: 老實說，這很安全，絕對沒問題。

Man: How do you know?

男人：你怎麼知道？

Lynn Verinsky: Because of liability insurance. (Laughter)

Lynn Verinsky: 因為我有買保險。

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

旁白：下面有安全墊，再綁上安全索，

Lynn began her 60-foot ascent.

Lynn開始往上爬，她要爬60呎。

Lynn made it to the top in a perfect pairing

Lynn爬上終點，

of Hollywood and science.

就像好萊塢與科學的完美結合。

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

男人：你是第一個真正模仿壁虎的人。

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

Lynn Verinsky: 哈！哇！那真是榮幸！

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

Robert Full: 她爬的是粗糙的表面，

But she actually used these on smooth surfaces --

但是她也曾利用這個爬上平滑的表面，

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

分成二個動作，先吸附住，再把自己拉上去。

And you can try this in the lobby,

你們可以在外面的大廳試試這個東西，

and look at the gecko-inspired material.

看看壁虎啟發我們做出了什麼東西。

Now the problem with the robots doing this

現在的問題是，我們在機器人身上裝設了這種材料，

is that they can't get unstuck,

但機器人的手一旦吸附住表面，

with the material.

就拿不下來了。

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

這是壁虎的作法，他們會把自己的腳趾從表面上「剝」下來，

from the surface, at high rates,

用很快的速度，

as they run up the wall.

好讓他們爬上牆壁。

Well I'm really excited today to show you

我很高興可以向你們展示

the newest version of a robot, Stickybot,

最新版本的機器人，

using a new hierarchical dry adhesive.

我們將新開發出來的乾式黏著劑運用在這上面。

Here is the actual robot.

這就是機器人，

And here is what it does.

它可以做到這樣，

And if you look,

如果你仔細看，

you can see that it uses

你會發現

the toe peeling,

它也把腳趾從表面上「剝」下來，

just like the gecko does.

就像壁虎一樣。

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

如果我們可以把影片再放長一點，你就會看到它爬到牆壁上了。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

There it is.

你看，

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

因為有這種新的黏著劑，所以它可以爬上其他表面，

that the Stanford group was able to do

這是史丹福團隊設計的

in designing this incredible robot.

了不起的機器人。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

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

噢，我想要講一件事，看看那個機器人，

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

你會看到有一個東西在上面，它不只是看起來像一隻壁虎而已，

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

它還有尾巴。你以為你夠瞭解大自然了，

this kind of thing happens.

但其實不是。

The engineers told us, for the climbing robots,

工程師告訴我們，

that, if they don't have a tail,

如果不幫這隻會爬的機器人裝上尾巴，

they fall off the wall.

它就會從牆上掉下來。

So what they did was they asked us

所以他們提出了一個

an important question.

重要的問題，

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

他們說：「嗯，這看起來像條尾巴。」

Even though we put a passive bar there.

即使我們只是裝飾性地裝了一條沒有作用的尾巴在那裡。

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

「動物在爬牆的時候會用到尾巴嗎？」

What they were doing was returning the favor,

他們這麼做反而是幫了我們一個忙，

by giving us a hypothesis to test,

讓我們就這個假設進行測試，

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

因為我們這些生物學家壓根也沒想到這件事。

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

這當然讓我們覺得很緊張，

being the biologists, and we should know this already.

因為身為生物學家的我們，早就應該知道這件事才對。

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

於是我們想：「嗯，尾巴有什麼用途？」

Well we know that tails store fat, for example.

我們知道尾巴儲存脂肪，

We know that you can grab onto things with them.

或是可以用尾巴勾住某個東西讓自己不要掉下去，

And perhaps it is most well known

或是如同大家都知道的，

that they provide static balance.

尾巴是用來保持平衡的。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

It can also act as a counterbalance.

尾巴可以用來保持平衡，

So watch this kangaroo.

讓我們看看這隻袋鼠，

See that tail? That's incredible!

看到它的尾巴了嗎？真的很不可思議！

Marc Raibert built a Uniroo hopping robot.

Marc Raibert仿袋鼠做了一個跳動機器人，

And it was unstable without its tail.

如果沒有裝上尾巴，就不能保持穩定。

Now mostly tails limit maneuverability,

大部分的尾巴都會妨礙行動，

like this human inside this dinosaur suit.

就像這個穿上恐龍裝的人一樣。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

My colleagues actually went on to test this limitation,

我的同事還針對這一點進行了測試，

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

測試延長慣性作用的時間，所以他們讓一個學生裝上象徵性的尾巴，

and running them through and obstacle course,

然後在一群障礙物裡跑，

and found a decrement in performance,

發現速度都降低了。

like you'd predict.

就跟大家想得一樣。

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

But of course, this is a passive tail.

但是，這是個沒有作用的尾巴，

And you can also have active tails.

你也可以換上有功能的尾巴。

And when I went back to research this, I realized

當我回去研究這個問題的時候，

that one of the great TED moments in the past,

我發現以前Nathan曾發表一個

from Nathan,

TED演說，

we've talked about an active tail.

就談到了具有功能的尾巴。

Video: Myhrvold thinks tail-cracking dinosaurs

影片：Myhrvold認為揮動尾巴的恐龍，

were interested in love, not war.

其實是要追求異性，而不是要打架。

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

Robert Full: 他認為像鞭子一樣揮動的尾巴，其實是在傳遞訊息，

It can also be used in defense.

也可以用來防衛，

Pretty powerful.

很有力的工具。

So we then went back and looked at the animal.

所以我們再回來看看壁虎，

And we ran it up a surface.

我們把它趕上一堵牆壁，

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

但我們在牆上補了一塊

that you see in yellow there.

黃色的光滑板子，

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

然後注意看右邊，看看壁虎在快要滑下來的時候，

when it slips. This is slowed down 10 times.

它的尾巴會發生什麼作用。我們把影片速度放慢十倍，

So here is normal speed.

這是正常速度，

And watch it now slip,

現在它要滑下來了，

and see what it does with its tail.

看它的尾巴在做什麼。

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

它的尾巴發揮了第五隻腳的作用，

and it contributes to stability.

讓它可以保持平衡。

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

如果你把光滑的區域再放大多一點，就會看到這種情形，

This is incredible.

真的很不可思議！

The engineers had a really good idea.

這些工程師的想法真的很棒！

And then of course we wondered,

我們當然會想，

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

好，他們的尾巴有作用，那麼再想想看，

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

如果他們爬上一堵牆，或一棵樹，

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

然後爬到頂端有樹葉的部分，

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

如果他們爬到樹葉背面的時候，

and there was some wind, or we shook it?

剛好有風吹過來，或者我們搖晃那個樹幹，結果會怎樣？

And we did that experiment, that you see here.

所以我們做了那個實驗，你看看。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

And this is what we discovered.

這是我們拍攝的影片，

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

用正常速度播放，你什麼都看不到，

But there it is slowed down.

所以放慢速度。

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

我們看到世界上最快的空中翻轉，

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

你們如果還記得一點物理常識的話，這就是角動量為零的反應。

righting response. But it's like a cat.

但它的動作看起來像貓，

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

就像貓掉下來的反應，貓也會這樣，他們會旋轉自己的身體。

But geckos do it better.

但是壁虎做得更好，

And they do it with their tail.

因為他們會運用自己的尾巴。

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

當他們在旋轉的時候，有用到尾巴的力量，

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

所以降落的時候就像超人在空中下降的姿勢一樣。

Okay, now we wondered, if we were right,

接下來我們想，如果我們想得沒錯，

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

我們應該在實體模型上測試一下，就是在機器人上測試。

So for TED we actually built a robot,

為了TED，我們真的打造了一個機器人，

over there, a prototype, with the tail.

是原型機器人，有尾巴的哦。

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

所以我們打算在這個有尾巴的機器人身上，

in a tail, with a robot.

測試第一次的空中翻轉。

If we could have the lights on it.

請打開燈光，

Okay, there it goes.

好，可以開始了。

And show the video.

請看影片，

There it is.

就是這樣，

And it works just like it does in the animal.

就像是動物的動作一樣。

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

所以你只需要一條尾巴來幫助你旋轉。

(Applause)

(掌聲)

Now, of course, we were normally frightened

我們會覺得驚訝，

because the animal has no gliding adaptations,

是因為壁虎並沒有滑翔的本領，

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

所以我們想：「好吧，我們把壁虎放進一個垂直的風管，

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

吹氣上來，然後設定一個降落點，就設定一個樹幹吧...

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

放在塑膠玻璃圍籬的外面，看看它的反應如何。」

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

So we did. And here is what it does.

我們真的做了，請看影片。

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

風會從底下吹上來，這是速度放慢十倍的影片，

It does an equilibrium glide. Highly controlled.

它滑翔得非常平穩，控制得非常好，

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

真是令人不敢相信！你如果替它照張相，

when you take a picture of it.

其實還挺美的呢！

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

還不只這樣，在它滑動的時候，它還可以在空中轉向，

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

它將尾巴擺動向一邊

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

好向左偏轉，然後再擺動向另一邊再向右偏轉，

So we can maneuver this way.

就是靠這個動作來轉向的。

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

還有，我們看了好幾次影片才相信它會做這個動作，

it also does this. Watch this.

看，它還會做這個動作，

It oscillates its tail up and down like a dolphin.

它會像海豚一樣上下擺動尾巴，

It can actually swim through the air.

就像在空中游泳一樣。

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

再看看它的前腳，看到它在做什麼嗎？

What does that mean for the origin of flapping flight?

像不像在振翅飛翔？

Maybe it's evolved from coming down from trees,

或許這是由樹上下來的動作演化而來，

and trying to control a glide.

然後它試著做得像滑翔一樣。

Stay tuned for that.

別轉台哦！

(Laughter)

(笑聲)

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

然後我們又想：「他們真的能夠控制方向嗎？」

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

所以我們設了一個降落點，看他們能不能降落在那裡？

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

現在它在風管裡，

And it certainly looks like it.

它好像很享受的樣子，

You can see it even better from down on top.

你看到它上升的時候做得更好，

Watch the animal.

看看這隻壁虎，

Definitely moving towards the landing target.

完全朝降落點前進。

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

看看它尾巴的擺動，你看看，

It's unbelievable.

真是令人不敢相信！

So now we were really confused,

我們有點搞不清楚了，

because there are no reports of it gliding.

因為以前從來沒有人說過壁虎會滑翔。

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

所以我們想：「天啊！我們得到野外去，

and see if it actually does this."

看看野外的壁虎是不是真的會滑翔。」

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

這完全和你看的野生動物影片製作的觀點相反，

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

我們想：「他們真的會在野外滑翔嗎？」

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

我們跑到新加坡和東南亞的森林裡去，

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

等會兒你們將會看到首次公開播映的影片。

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

這是真實的野外影片，不是設計過的，

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

是真的研究壁虎滑翔下來的影片--那兒有一條紅色的滑翔線，

Look at the end to see the animal.

在末端可以看到壁虎，

But then as it gets closer to the tree,

當它靠近樹的時候，

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

要注意看特寫鏡頭，看看你是否能看到它降落的畫面。

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

它下來了，有一隻壁虎在滑翔線的末端，

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

看到了嗎？在那裡，它下來了，

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

你看上面的特寫鏡頭就會看到它降落的畫面，看到了嗎？

It actually uses its tail too,

它真的有用它的尾巴幫忙，

just like we saw in the lab.

就像我們在實驗室裡看到的一樣。

So now we can continue this mutualism

所以我們可以繼續這種互惠的機制，

by suggesting that they can make an active tail.

告訴這些工程師他們可以製作一條有作用的尾巴。

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

這是第一個裝設有作用的尾巴的機器人，

made by Boston Dynamics.

由Boston Dynamics製作。

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

結論是，我覺得我們應該建立生物互惠學的機制，就像我所展示的，

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

這樣會增進基礎科學進步的腳步。

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

但要做到這一步，我們必須對教育做出重大改變，

to balance depth with interdisciplinary communication,

以加強各學科間溝通的深度，

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

並讓各學科的專家有機會教學相長。

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

當然這需要環境的配合，以及適當的機制。

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

不管你在不在乎安全、搜救、救援或健康，

we must preserve nature's designs,

我們都必須保護大自然的設計，

otherwise these secrets will be lost forever.

否則這些祕密將會永遠遺失。

And from what I heard from our new president,

而我從新任總統的談話中得知，

I'm very optimistic. Thank you.

我可以對這件事抱持樂觀的態度，謝謝各位。

(Applause)

(掌聲)