Robert Full: The secrets of nature's grossest creatures, channeled into robots

譯者: Tiger Xie 審譯者: Anny Chung

Even nature's most disgusting creatures

即使自然界的最令人厭惡的生物

have important secrets,

也擁有重要的秘密。

but who would want a swarm of cockroaches

但是誰會想要一群向牠們

coming towards them?

走來的蟑螂呢？

Yet one of the greatest differences between natural and human technologies

而自然和人類科技的一最大不同點

relates to robustness.

在於其穩健性。

Robust systems are stable in complex

穩健的系統於複雜或是新環境中，

and new environments.

都能穩定地運作。

Remarkably, cockroaches can self-stabilize

令人矚目的是，蟑螂能夠自我穩定地

running over rough terrain.

越過高低不平的地形。

When we put a jet pack on them,

當我們在牠們上面放噴射背包，

or give them a perturbation like an earthquake,

或者以類似地震的事件擾亂牠時，

we discovered that their wonderfully tuned legs

我們發現，牠們極為調諧的腿

allow them to self-stabilize

可讓牠們自行穩定地行動，

without using any of their brainpower.

而絲毫不費任何腦力。

They can go over complex terrain like grass,

牠們能夠通過複雜地形，比如草地，

no problem, and not get destabilized.

而不會變得不穩定。

We discovered a new behavior where,

我們發現了一種新的行為，

because of their shape,

由於牠們的體型，

they actually roll automatically to their side

牠們可自動地滚到身體另一側，

to go through this artificial test bit of grass.

來通過實驗中的人工草。

Robust systems can perform multiple tasks

穩健性系統能夠以這樣相同的結構，

with the same structure.

來履行多種任務。

Here's a new behavior we've discovered.

這是我們發現的一種新的行為。

The animals rapidly invert and disappear

這些動物們用來跑行的同樣的結構

in less than 150 milliseconds — you never see them —

在150毫秒迅速地翻轉和消失，

using the same structures that they use to run, their legs.

一下子就無影無蹤--

They can run upside down

牠們上下顛倒地、非常迅速地

very rapidly on rods, branches and wires,

在棍子，樹枝和電線上跑過，

and if you perturb one of those branches,

而如果你擾亂其中一個樹枝的話，

they can do this.

牠們（依然）能夠如此越過。

They can perform gymnastic maneuvers

牠們能夠履行的體操動作

like no robot we have yet.

是我們至今現有機器人所無法實現的

And they have nearly unlimited

牠們以一同種結構，

maneuverability with that same structure

擁有近乎無限的機動性，

and unprecedented access to a variety

能夠史無前例地進入

of different areas.

多樣地不同的區域。

They have wings for flying when they get warm,

當牠們熱身後，牠們可用翅膀飛行，

but they use those same wings to flip over

如果牠們遭到不穩定（的干擾），

if they get destabilized.

而牠們也用同樣的翅膀，

來非常有效地翻滾過來。

Very effective.

Robust systems are also fault tolerant and fail-safe.

穩健系統也有故障容錯和自我防故障機制。

This is the foot of a cockroach.

這是一隻蟑螂的腳掌。

It has spines, gluey pads and claws,

牠有脊柱，胶垫和爪子

but if you take off those feet,

但是如果你拿掉牠的腳掌，

they can still go over rough terrain,

牠們仍然能夠越過高低不平的地形，

like the bottom video that you see,

就像在下面錄像裡，你看到的一樣。

without hardly slowing down. Extraordinary.

絲毫不減速地（越過）。非同凡響。

They can run up mesh without their feet.

牠們沒有腳掌仍可越上鐵絲網。

Here's an animal using a normal, alternating tripod:

這個動物使用正常的、替換性三軸架結構。

three legs, three legs, three legs,

三只腿，三只腿，三只腿

but in nature, the insects often have lost their legs.

但在自然中，這些昆蟲常失去牠們的腿。

Here's one moving with two middle legs gone.

這一隻正移動的昆蟲，牠没中間2條腿。

It can even lose three legs, in a tripod,

牠甚至失去三條腿，一個三軸架結構中，

and adopt a new gait, a hopping gait.

牠用一種新步法，一種跳躍式的步法。

And I point out that all of these videos

需要說明的是，所有這些影片

are slowed down 20 times,

都放慢20倍來播放

so they're actually really fast, when you see this.

所以牠們實際上真的很快。

Robust systems are also damage resistant.

穩健性系統也有防破壞機制。

Here's an animal climbing up a wall.

這一隻正在向上爬牆。

It looks like a rapid, smooth, vertical climb,

看上去是迅速平穩地垂直爬行，

but when you slow it down,

但是當影像放慢的時候，

you see something very different.

你會看到一些非常不同的事情。

Here's what they do.

牠們其實這麼做 :

They intentionally have a head-on collision with the wall

牠們故意地讓頭衝撞這面牆，

so they don't slow down and can transition up it

所以牠們不用減速，能在75毫秒

in 75 milliseconds.

轉變向上爬。

And they can do this in part because they have

牠們能這樣做，部份原因是，

extraordinary exoskeletons.

牠們有特別的外骨骼。

And they're really just made up of compliant joints

牠們由兼容的關節組成

that are tubes and plates

而這些關節就由管子和墊子

connected to one another.

互相連接在一起。

Here's a dissection of an abdomen of a cockroach.

這是一隻蟑螂的腹部的解剖面。

You see these plates, and you see the compliant membrane.

你能看到這些墊子，這些兼容的隔膜。

My engineering colleague at Berkeley

我在柏克萊的工程設計同事

designed with his students

和他的學生們設計出了

a novel manufacturing technique

一種新穎的製造技術。

where you essentially origami the exoskeleton,

像折紙一樣打開外骨骼，

you laser cut it, laminate it,

將之雷射切割，分成薄片，

and you fold it up into a robot.

然後折疊成一個機器人。

And you can do that now in less than 15 minutes.

現在能在15分鐘內完成。

These robots, called DASH,

這些機械人，叫做DASH,

for Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod,

動態自發爬行昆蟲，

are highly compliant robots,

是有高度兼容的機器人，

and they're remarkably robust as a result

它們具有令人矚目的

of these features.

穩定性。

They're certainly incredibly damage resistant.

它們有非凡地抗破壞性。

(Laughter)

（觀眾在笑）

They even have some of the behaviors of the cockroaches.

它們甚至擁有蟑螂的一些行為特徵。

So they can use their smart, compliant body

所以它們能使用智慧兼容的身體

to transition up a wall

以非常簡單方式，

in a very simple way.

來轉變爬上一面牆

They even have some of the beginnings

它們甚至有像蟑螂消失一般的

of the rapid inversion behavior

迅速地倒置轉換行為

where they disappear.

的一些開端。

我們想知到牠們爲什麽能去任何地方。

Now we want to know why they can go anywhere.

We discovered that they can go through

我們發現，牠們能夠越過

three-millimeter gaps,

the height of two pennies, two stacked pennies,

三毫米的空隙，

兩個堆起來的便士（硬幣）的高度，

and when they do this,

they can actually run through those confined spaces

而當牠們做這件事情時，

牠們能夠高速地

at high speeds,

跑過這些密閉的空間，

although you never see it.

你只是從來沒看見牠。

To understand it better,

爲了更理解牠，

we did a CT scan of the exoskeleton

我們以電腦斷層掃描外骨骼

and showed that they can compress their body

其顯示，牠們能夠壓縮身體超過40%。

by over 40 percent.

We put them in a materials testing machine

我們牠們放在一個材料檢驗設備中，

to look at the stress strain analysis

來作應力應變分析，

and showed that they can withstand forces

發現牠們能夠承受八倍於

800 times their body weight,

牠們身體重量的力量，

and after this they can fly and run

而壓力後夠正常地飛和跑。

absolutely normally.

So you never know where

所以你無法預料

curiosity-based research will lead,

基於好奇的研究會導向哪裡，

and someday you may want a swarm

（或許）某天你可能想要

of cockroach-inspired robots

一群受蟑螂啓發研究的機器人

to come at you.

向你走來。

(Laughter)

（觀眾的笑聲）

Thank you.

謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（觀眾鼓掌）。