In the ocean, what is the common point between oil, plastic and radioactivity?
在海洋中 什麼是 石油、塑膠、和放射線的共通點?
On the top line, this is the BP oil spill: billions of barrels of oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico. The middle line is millions of tons of plastic debris accumulating in our ocean, and the third line is radioactive material leaking from Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Pacific Ocean.
在上面是 BP 漏油事件: 數十億桶的石油 (講者更正:數百萬桶) 湧進墨西哥灣。 在中間是數百萬噸堆積 在海洋的塑膠碎片 在下面則是福島核電站 洩漏的放射性物質 飄向太平洋。
Well, the three big problems have in common that they are man-made problems but they are controlled by natural forces. This should make us feel very, terribly awful as much as it should make us feel hopeful, because if we have the power to create these problems, we may as well have the power to remediate these problems.
這三大問題的共通點是 它們都是人為的問題 但都由自然力量所控制 這應使我們感到非常、 非常可怕 就像它應該讓我們感覺充滿希望 因為如果我們有能力製造這些問題, 我們應該也有能力 來修復這些問題。
But what about natural forces? Well, that's exactly what I want to talk about today, is how we can use these natural forces to remediate these man-made problems. When the BP oil spill happened,
但自然力量呢? 嗯,這正是我今天想要談的, 就是如何利用這些自然的力量 來修復這些人為的問題。 BP 漏油事件發生的時候,
I was working at MIT, and I was in charge of developing an oil spill-cleaning technology. And I had a chance to go in the Gulf of Mexico and meet some fishermen and see the terrible conditions in which they were working. More than 700 of these boats, which are fishermen boats repurposed with oil absorbent in white and oil containment in orange, were used, but they only collected three percent of the oil on the surface, and the health of the cleaners were very deeply affected.
我在麻省理工學院工作,當時我負責 研發清洗石油漏油的技術。 那時我有個機會去墨西哥海灣 和一些漁民會面,我也看到了 他們惡劣的工作環境 超過 700 艘這樣的船, 是以漁船改裝的 配備白色的油漬吸附劑 及橙色的攔油索 但是它們只能回收海洋表面 3% 的油, 而清潔工的健康 卻受到很嚴重的影響。
I was working on a very interesting technology at MIT, but it was a very long-term view of how to develop technology, and it was going to be a very expensive technology, and also it would be patented. So I wanted to develop something that we could develop very fast, that would be cheap, and that would be open-source, so, because oil spills are not only happening in the Gulf of Mexico, and that would be using renewable energy. So I quit my dream job, and I moved to New Orleans, and I kept on studying how the oil spill was happening.
我當時正在麻省理工學院研究一種 非常有趣的技術,但是就如何開發技術來說 這是一個非常長期的計畫 而且它會是非常昂貴的技術, 並還得取得專利。 所以我想要發展的東西是一種我們可以 發展得非常快、又很廉價的東西 它最好是共享資源。這是因為 漏油不只發生在墨西哥灣, 而我們要使用可再生能源。 所以我辭掉我夢想中的工作, 而且我搬到新奧爾良 我在那裡持續學習漏油事故如何發生的。
Currently, what they were doing is that they were using these small fishing boats, and they were cleaning clean lines in an ocean of dirt. If you're using the exact same amount of surface of oil absorbent, but you're just paying attention to natural patterns, and if you're going up the winds, you can collect a lot more material. If you're multiplying the rig, so you multiply how many layers of absorbent you're using, you can collect a lot more. But it's extremely difficult to move oil absorbent against the winds, the surface currents and the waves. These are enormous forces. So the very simple idea was to use the ancient technique of sailing and tacking of the wind to capture or intercept the oil that is drifting down the wind. So this didn't require any invention. We just took a simple sailing boat and we tried to pull something long and heavy, but as we tacked back and forth, what we lost was two things: we were losing pulling power and direction.
目前,他們在做的是 他們用這些小漁船來清理, 但效果最多不過是在汪洋的油汙裡洗出乾淨的線條罷了。 如果你使用相同表面積的 油漬吸附劑,你會注意到 大自然的規律,如果你從下風往上風方向走, 就可以收集更多的油汙。 如果你能裝上許多攔油索, 再配合撒上多層的油漬吸附劑 就可以收集更多油汙。 但是你很難逆著風、 逆著表面洋流和海浪 來拖動油漬吸附劑 這些都是巨大的力量。 所以很簡單的想法是,利用古代的 航海技術,看風向 來收集或攔截 順風漂流下來的油污。 因此,這並不需要任何發明。 我們只是用了簡單的帆船 我們試著拉又長又重的東西 但,當我們來回拖動船體 我們失去兩個東西: 我們失去拖動力和方向。
And so, I thought, what about if we just take the rudder from the back of the boat to the front, would we have better control? So I built this small sailing robot with the rudder at the front, and I was trying to pull something very long and heavy, so that's a four-meter-long object just to pull, and I was surprised with just a 14-centimeter rudder, I could control four meters of absorbent. Then I was so happy that I kept playing with the robot, and so you see the robot has a front rudder here. Normally it's at the back. And, playing, I realized that the maneuverability of this was really amazing, and I could avoid an obstacle at the very last second, more maneuverable than a normal boat.
這樣,我就想,如果我們把舵 從船尾移到船頭 我們能更好地控制它嗎? 所以我建了這個小帆船機器人 舵在船頭 然後嘗試拉又長又重的東西, 這就是四米長的物件,只為了實驗拖東西 然後我很驚訝我僅以 14 公分的舵, 就可以控制長達四米(公尺)的油漬吸附劑。 我很高興,所以我一直在試這個機器人, 因此,你看到這個機器人有 前方向舵, 通常這舵是在後面。 我一直試,意識到它的操縱能力 真的很令人驚訝 我可以在最後一秒閃避障礙物 比一般的船更具機動性。
Then I started publishing online, and some friends from Korea, they started being interested in this, and we made a boat which has a front rudder and a back rudder, so we started interacting with this, and it was slightly better, although it was very small and a bit off balance, but then we thought, what if we have more than two points of control? What if the entire boat becomes a point of control? What if the entire boat changes shape?
然後我開始在網上發表結果 來自韓國的一些朋友,他們開始 在這領域產生興趣,然後我們造了一艘船 有前舵也有後舵 我們開始做更多的實驗 效果的確是比較好一點, 雖然它很小,有點不容易保持平衡, 但後來我們覺得, 如果我們有兩個以上的控制點會不會更好呢? 那,要不整艘船都能控制方向? 或者,改變整艘船的形狀?
So — (Applause)
所以 — — (掌聲)
Thank you very much. (Applause)
謝謝。(掌聲)
And so that's the beginning of Protei, and that's the first boat in history that completely changed the shape of the hull in order to control it, and the properties of sailing that we get are very superior compared to a normal boat. When we're turning, we have the feeling of surfing, and the way it's going up-wind, it's very efficient. This is low speed, low wind speed, and the maneuverability is very increased, and here I'm going to do a small jibe, and look at the position of the sail. What's happening is that, because the boat changes shape, the position of the front sail and the main sail are different to the wind. We're catching wind from both sides. And this is exactly what we're looking [for] if we want to pull something long and heavy. We don't want to lose pulling power, nor direction. So, I wanted to know if this was possible to put this at an industrial level, so we made a large boat with a large sail, and with a very light hull, inflatable, very small footprint, so we have a very big size and power ratio.
這就是最初的 Protei 這是史上第一艘 能完全改變船形的船 目的是為了控制它。 帆船的性能 和普通船相比是十分優越的 當我們轉向時,我們有衝浪的感覺 它面臨上風時非常有效率。 這是低速度、 低風速度, 機動性進步很多 在這裡我要做微幅的轉舵, 看看帆的位置, 現在發生的是,因為船更改了形狀, 前帆和主帆的位置 和風向不同, 我們要從兩側乘風, 這也正是我們在尋找的東西 如果我們想要拖又長又沉重的東西。 我們不想失去拖曳動力,及失去方向。 所以,我想知道是否這是可能的 把這個成品產業化 所以我們做了大風帆的大船 與很輕的船身,充氣時, 占地面積非常小, 所以,我們有一個很大的體積和功率比。
After this, we wanted to see if we could implement this and automate the system, so we used the same system but we added a structure to it so we could activate the machine. So, we used the same bladder-inflated system, and we took it for testing. So this is happening in the Netherlands. We tried in the water without any skin or ballast just to see how it works. And then we mounted a camera for controlling it, but quickly we saw that we would need a lot more weight at the bottom, so we had to take it back to the lab, and then we built a skin around it, we put batteries, remote controllers, and then we put it in the water and then we let it go in the water and see how well it would work, so let some rope out, and hope it's going to work, and it worked okay, but we still have a long way. Our small prototype has given us good insight that it's working very well, but we still need to work a lot more on this.
這之後,我們想看看我們能否 實現它,並使系統自動化, 所以我們使用相同的系統,但我們添加了 一種結構,以便我們可以啟動這台機器。 我們使用同一個氣囊充氣系統 測試它 這是在荷蘭 我們試著在沒有任何外殼或壓艙物的情況下放入水中 我想看看它是如何工作, 然後我們接上相機控制它, 但很快,我們知道我們需要 在底部,置放更多重量 所以我們把它帶回實驗室, 在其外圍覆蓋一層外皮 我們裝上電池、 遠端控制器, 接著把它放在水裡。然後我們 任它往水裡去,看看它會如何運作, 我們拉一些繩子出來,希望它運作順利, 最終它運作良好了,但我們仍然有很長的路要走。 我們從模型中得到想法 它運作得不錯 但我們仍需改進
So what we are doing is an accelerated evolution of sailing technology. We went from a back rudder to a front rudder to two rudders to multiple rudders to the whole boat changing shape, and the more we are moving forward, and the more the design looks simple and cute. (Laughter)
所以我們現在正在做的,是加速進化 航行技術。 我們從一開始的背舵,改為前舵 之後從雙舵變成多舵 到後來整條船都可以改變形狀 當我們愈是持續地改進它, 它的設計看起來就愈來愈簡單、可愛了。(笑聲)
But I wanted to show you a fish because -- In fact, it's very different from a fish. A fish will move because -- by changing like this, but our boat is propelled by the wind still, and the hull controls the trajectory.
我想向各位展示一條魚,因為 事實上,它和一條魚非常不同。 一般說來,一條魚會移動,是因為牠像這樣改變, 但我們的船是由風所推動, 而它的航行方向是由船身控制,
So I brought to you for the first time on the TED stage Protei Number Eight. It's not the last one, but it's a good one for making demos.
這是我第一次把它呈現在 TED 講臺上, Protei 8 號。它不是最後一款設計, 但它是一個好的展示品。
So the first thing as I show you in the video is that we may be able to control the trajectory of a sailing boat better, or we may be able to never be in irons, so never facing the wind, we always can catch the wind from both sides. But new properties of a sailing boat. So if you're looking at the boat from this side, this might remind you of an airplane profile. An airplane, when you're moving in this direction, starts to lift, and that's how it takes off. Now, if you're taking the same system, and you're putting vertical, you're bending, and if you're moving this way forward, your instinct will tell you that you might go this way, but if you're moving fast enough, you might create what we call lateral lift, so we could get further or closer to the wind.
所以,我在影片中展示的第一件事是 我們或許可以更好地控制 帆船的航向, 或,我們也可以永遠避免處於頂風處 所以永遠不會面風, 我們總能趕上兩側風。 但新的帆船的特徵是這樣的 如果你從船的這一邊看過去, 這可能會讓你想起飛機剖面, 在飛機上,當你正在朝這個方向前進時 它開始上升,這是它起飛的樣子。 現在,如果你把相同的系統, 垂直放,彎曲它 如果通過這種方式向前移動, 你的直覺會告訴你,你可能會走這條路, 但,如果你移動地夠快, 你可能會產生一個我們稱之為側平舉的現象, 藉此,我們可以更進一步、或者更接近風。
Other property is this: A normal sailing boat has a centerboard here and a rudder at the back, and these two things are what creates most resistance and turbulence behind the boat, but because this doesn't have either a centerboard or a rudder, we hope that if we keep working on this hull design we can improve and have less resistance.
其他特徵如下所示: 正常的帆船在這裡有個活動船板 另外在後面有個方向舵, 這兩個機件產生了大部分 在船後的阻力和亂流, 但由於這沒有 活動船板或船舵, 我們希望,如果我們繼續在船體的設計上著力 我們可以改善,使阻力變小;
The other thing is, most boats, when they reach a certain speed, and they are going on waves, they start to hit and slap on the surface of the water, and a lot of the energy moving forward is lost. But if we're going with the flow, if we pay attention to natural patterns instead of trying to be strong, but if you're going with the flow, we may absorb a lot of environmental noises, so the wave energy, to actually save some energy to move forward.
另外一點是,大多數的船隻,當它們達到 某一速度時,他們會在浪尖上 開始衝擊水面 並失去很多向前移動的能量, 但,如果我們要隨著波流前進, 如果我們仔細端詳自然的規律 而不是嘗試要變得壯碩, 但如果你打算順著波流走,我們會吸收 很多的環境噪音與波能量, 以保存一些能量向前移動。
So we may have developed the technology which is very efficient for pulling something long and heavy, but the idea is, what is the purpose of technology if it doesn't reach the right hands?
我們會開發技術 開發一種有效拉動又長又重東西的技術 然而,這個想法是,到底科技的目的是什麼? 如果它不能到達正確的方式呢?
Normal technology or innovation happens like this: Somebody has an interesting idea, some other scientist or engineer, they take it to the next level, they make a theory about it and maybe they patent it, and then some industry will make a contract of exclusivity to manufacture and sell it, and then, eventually, a buyer will buy it, and we hope that they are going to use [it] for a good purpose. What we really want is that this innovation happens continuously. The inventor and engineers and also the manufacturers and everybody works at the same time, but this would be sterile if this was happening in a parallel and uncrossed process. What you really want is not a sequential, not parallel development. You want to have a network of innovation. You want everybody, like we're doing now, to work at the same time, and that can only happen if these people all together decide to share the information, and that's exactly what open hardware is about. It's to replace competition by collaboration. It's to transform any new product into a new market. So what is open hardware? Essentially, open hardware is a license. It's just an intellectual property setup. It means that everybody is free to use, modify and distribute, and in exchange we only ask for two things: The name is credited -- the name of the project -- and also the people who make improvement, they share back with the community. So it's a very simple condition.
正常的技術或創新是像這樣發生的: 有人有一個有趣的想法, 一些其他的科學家或工程師, 他們進階研究,研發理論, 也許他們申請到專利, 然後一些企業會提供合約 用以獨家製造、銷售, 然後,最終,有買主會買它, 而我們希望他們有良好的用途。 我們真正想要的是,這種創新會持續不斷地發生, 發明家、工程師、 製造商、和所有人 在同一時間工作,但如果這發生在平行和非交叉的過程中的話, 可能會產生不出什麽效果。 你真的想要的,不是一種時序性的 也不是平行發展, 你想要有創新的網路。 你想要每個人都像我們現在正在做的: 在同一時間工作,而創新只會發生於 所有這些人一起決定分享資訊, 而這也正符合開放硬體的精神。 它是以合作代替競爭, 它將任何一個新產品轉化為一個新市場。 那麼什麼是開放硬體? 本質上,開放硬體是一個許可證。 它只是一個智慧財產權的設置。 它意謂著每個人都可以免費使用、 修改、分發、和交換。 我們只要求兩件事情: 標示名稱。也就是專案的名稱; 並標示那些對其貢獻的人們, 他們回來與社區分享。 因此,它是一個非常簡單的條件。
And I started this project alone in a garage in New Orleans, but quickly after I wanted to publish and share this information, so I made a Kickstarter, which is a crowd-fundraising platform, and in about one month we fundraised 30,000 dollars. With this money, I hired a team of young engineers from all over the world, and we rented a factory in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. We were peer-learning, we were engineering, we were making things, prototyping, but most importantly we were trying our prototypes in the water as often as possible, to fail as quickly as possible, to learn from. This is a proud member of Protei from Korea, and on the right side, this is a multiple-masts design proposed by a team in Mexico. This idea really appealed to Gabriella Levine in New York, and so she decided to prototype this idea that she saw, and she documented every step of the process, and she published it on Instructables, which is a website for sharing inventions. Less than one week after, this is a team in Eindhoven, it's a school of engineering. They made it, but they eventually published a simplified design. They also made it into an Instructable, and in less than one week, they had almost 10,000 views, and they got many new friends. We're working on also simpler technology, not that complex, with younger people and also older people, like this dinosaur is from Mexico. (Laughter)
我的這個專案是在新奧爾良的車庫裡開始的, 但很快地在我發佈和共用 這些資訊之後,所以我做了 Kickstarter, 這是一個向人們籌款的平臺, 大約在約一個月內,我們籌到三萬美元的捐助。 用這筆錢,我雇了一個年輕的工程師團隊 他們來自世界各地,我們也在荷蘭的鹿特丹 租了一家工廠。 我們同行之間彼此學習,我們做工程、 我們發明許多東西、建立模型, 但最重要的是,我們盡可能頻繁地 在水中測試我們的模型, 爲了儘速地從失敗中汲取教訓。 這是我們來自韓國的一個令人驕傲的成員, 在右側,這就是多層桅杆, 這是由一個在墨西哥的小組所設計的提案, 這種想法正合 Gabriella Levine 的意思, 所以她決定在紐約建立模型 她看到這個想法, 並記錄每個步驟的過程, 並且她將它刊載於 Instructables。 Instructables 是一個網站,提供分享發明 不到一星期之後, 這是一個在荷蘭 Eindhoven 的團隊,這是一所工程學校。 他們創造它, 但最終發表一個簡化的設計。 他們也把它放上 Instructable 網站 不到一星期後 他們收到幾乎 10,000 個意見,也認識了很多新朋友。 我們現在正在研究較為簡單的技術, 沒那麼複雜,和較年輕的人、 以及較年長的人工作 就像這恐龍一樣是從墨西哥來的。(笑聲)
So Protei is now an international network of innovation for selling technology using this shape-shifting hull. And what puts us together is that we have a common, at least, global understanding of what the word "business" is, or what it should be. This is how most work today. Business as usual is saying, what's most important is to make lots of profit, and you'll be using technology for that, and people will be your work force, instrumentalized, and environment is usually the last priority. It will be just a way to, say, greenwash your audience and, say, increase your price tag.
所以 Protei 現在是一個以創新為主的國際網路 銷售科技技術 使用這種形體轉換的船身。 我們在一起的原因是: 我們有一個共同的 至少,全球的認知;這個認知是指 對於「商業」是什麽、或「商業」應當是什麽的認知。 這是大多數今天工作的方式。 通常在商業活動中,最重要的是 獲得最大的利潤, 並且為此使用科技,而人們成為你的勞工, 被你雇傭 然後,環境通常是最後的考量。 它只是用漂綠的方式說服聽眾 而且還可能為此抬高價格。
What we're trying to do, or what we believe, because this is how we believe the world really works, is that without the environment you have nothing. We have the people so we need to protect each other, yes, and we're a technology company, and profit is necessary to make this happen. (Applause)
而我們試圖做的、或我們所相信的是 我們相信世界運作的道理在於 沒有環境,你什麽都得不到。 我們有人,所以我們需要保護對方, 是的,我們是一家科技公司, 利潤由此而生。(掌聲)
Thank you very much. (Applause)
謝謝。(掌聲)
If we have the courage to understand or accept that this actually how the world really works, and this is the order of priority that we need to choose, then it makes obvious why we need to choose open hardware for developing environmental technology, because we need to share information.
如果我們有勇氣去理解或接受 這世界的實際運作, 而這就是我們的優先選擇次序, 於是,為什麼我們需要選擇開放性硬體 以作為發展環境科技的原因,便顯而易見了: 因為我們需要分享資訊。
What's next for us?
我們的下一步是什麼?
So, this small machine that you've seen, we're hoping to make small toys like one-meter remote control Protei that you can upgrade -- so replace the remote control parts by Androids, so the mobile phone, and Arduino micro-controller, so you could be controlling this from your mobile phone, your tablet. Then what we want to do is create six-meter versions so we can test the maximum performance of these machines, so we can go at very, very high speed. So imagine yourself. You are laying down in a flexible torpedo, sailing at high speed, controlling the shape of the hull with your legs and controlling the sail with your arms. So that's what we're looking for developing. (Applause)
這個你剛看到的小機器, 我們希望能做出像這樣的小玩具: 一公尺遠端控制的 Protei,你可以升級它 將遠端控制的部份更改為 Androids 這樣,你就可以透過 行動電話和 Arduino 微控制器控制它 從你的行動電話、平板電腦控制它 我們想要做的是打造六公尺的版本 所以我們可以測試這些機器的最大性能, 這樣一來,我們上調到非常高的速度。 想像一下你自己 處於一枚可變換方向的魚雷 在高速中移動 你用腿控制船身 用手臂控制船帆。 這就是我們正在開發的。(掌聲)
And we replace the human being -- to go, for example, for measuring radioactivity, you don't want a human to be sailing those robots -- with batteries, motors, micro-controllers and sensors. This is what our teammates, we dream of at night. We hope that we can sometime clean up oil spills, or we can gather or collect plastic in the ocean, or we can have swarms of our machines controlled by multi-player video game engines to control many of these machines, to monitor coral reefs or to monitor fisheries.
我們取代人工, 比如說,用這個產品測量輻射, 你並不想要用人直接操控那些機器 而是用電池、 發動機、 微控制器、和感應器。 這是我們隊友每夜的夢想。 我們希望我們可以找個時間清理漏油、 或,我們可以收集海洋中的塑膠 或,我們可以讓我們大量的機器 通過影片遊戲引擎來控制, 通過控制這大批機器 來監控珊瑚礁 或監控漁業資源。
Our hope is that we can use open hardware technology to better understand and protect our oceans.
我們的希望是,我們可以使用開放硬體科技 使我們更好地瞭解、保護我們的海洋。
Thank you very much. (Applause) (Applause)
謝謝。(掌聲) (掌聲)