Computers have become truly incredible. We are walking around with supercomputers in our pocket. How amazing is that? So it is disappointing that the way we use computers, the way we interact with them, hasn't really changed in the last 50 years. We still use a mouse and keyboards. We're clicking on screens and buttons. Mobile phones are the same. We're just using fingers instead of a mouse.
電腦已然進化得令人讚嘆。 我們隨身的口袋裡都有部超級電腦。 這是多麼地不可思議! 但我們使用電腦的方式 和電腦互動的方式, 在過去 50 年中沒有真正改變, 這實在令人失望。 我們仍然使用滑鼠跟鍵盤、 我們觸碰著螢幕跟按鍵。 手機也是一樣的。 我們只是用手指代替滑鼠。
So is that it? Is that what the future looks like? We're going to be stuck in the screens with our faces not seeing the world around us? That's not the future I imagine, or the future I'm attracted to. What I've been always interested in is things, physical things we use every day, like things on this table that the family doesn't pay attention to. Things tell our story. They tell who we are. They tell a lot about us. Let me give you an example.
就這樣了嗎? 難道未來的世界就像這樣? 就被卡在螢幕間, 對身邊的世界視而不見嗎? 這不是我想像的未來, 也不是吸引我的未來。 我一直感興趣的是物件。 我們每天使用的實體物件, 像是這張桌子上的物件, 在家裡毫不起眼很常見。 物件會透露許多關於我們的事。 物件訴說、透露著關於我們的事。 舉個例子,
These are photographs of things a person touched during 24 hours. What can you tell about him? He loves his motorcycle. Right? The biggest thing in his picture. What can you tell about this girl? She spends all her time on the beach. There's a surfboard. She lives by the sea. What can you tell about this guy? He's a chef. Look at all the ingredients he touched during the day, while he was preparing the food, and the computer is a tiny part of his life, this sad thing in the corner.
這些圖片展示了一個人 在 24 小時之內觸碰過的所有物件。 你能知道關於物件主人的哪些事呢? 他愛他的摩托車,對嗎? 這是他的畫面裡最主要的東西。 你能知道關於這位女生的哪些事呢? 她的時間都花在海灘上了。 有個衝浪板。 她住在海邊。 你可以知道關於這個人的哪些事呢? 他是位主廚。 看看當他準備料理時, 一天內所有他碰過的食材, 而電腦只是他生活中的一小部份, 在角落的可憐小東西。
So if we are using things all the time, and this is a big part of our lives, can things become the way for us to interact with our digital life? Can the world become your interface? That was my idea. I've been working for 20 years on it. My idea is that in order to interact in digital life, you don't need to have screens and keyboards and mouses. You can interact with your digital life just by using the things you use every day. And to realize this idea, I need to solve three big challenges. Let me tell you about them.
我們隨時在使用實體物件, 而這佔了我們生活中很大的部分。 日常物件是否可以成為我們 與數位生活互動的媒介呢? 我們是否可以把這個世界 轉換成你的介面? 這就是我的想法。 我已經為此努力了二十年。 我的想法是: 你不需要螢幕、鍵盤和滑鼠, 來連結數位生活。 你可以用日常物件 來連結你的數位生活。 為了實現這個想法, 我必須解決三個大挑戰。 讓我娓娓道來。
The first one, obviously: Is it even possible? How can you take an everyday thing you use every day and turn it into a computer interface?
很顯然首先要問:這辦得到嗎? 你如何把日常的物件 轉換成電腦介面呢?
Now I was inspired by the book "Hackers." I read it when I was a teenager, and one of the essential ideas of this book is that you can change the purpose of things by inventing new technology and then hacking into things and changing them. So I've been thinking what kind of technology I can invent so that I can hack into things you use every day and make them interactive.
《黑客列傳:電腦革命俠客誌》 啟發了我。 我在青少年時讀到這本書, 而這本書其中的一個觀念就是: 通過發明新的科技 駭進這個物件、改造它們, 你就可以改變物件原本的目的。 我一直在想, 我可以創造什麼樣的科技, 讓我可以駭進人們日常使用的物件, 並使它們具有互動性。
So when I was working on this thing, I invented this sensor which injects structured electric fields into objects and turns them into gesture interfaces. So this doorknob, unmodified, can become a gesture sensor. It can know how you're touching it. It can feel how you're touching it. It makes a circle, or can I grasp. And this doorknob isn't modified. There's nothing special about doorknobs. Anything can become interactive. What about plants? So plants are interesting, because with plants, they can know where you're touching. You can see the line moving up and down on the image. And that can turn into a musical interface.
所以我開始在這個主題上鑽研, 我發明了這個感測器, 它會投射結構化電場到物件上, 然後把它們轉化成觸控式的介面。 這個未被改造的門把 可以變成手勢感測器。 它可以知道你如何觸碰它、 它會感受到你如何觸碰它, 這樣是個圈,或者是握住它。 這門把未經改造。 這個門把沒有特殊之處。 所有物件都可以具有互動性。 那植物呢? 植物很有趣, 因為植物知道你在碰它哪裡, 你可以看到畫面中的 這條線上上下下的。 這可以轉化為音樂介面。
(Musical tones)
(音樂音調)
Now, we do have also practical applications: a calendar plant for those who are obsessed about practicality.
我們也有具有實用性的應用,像是: 植物日曆,給那些 執著於實用性的人。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
We can give things a personality.
我們可以賦予物件個性。
(Low notes changing in pitch)
(低沉音調的改變)
So in this particular example, the orchid can communicate to you through images and sounds. It doesn't like to be touched, so it's created these electric images that are hissing at you. This plant, for example, is more robust, it's a snake plant, and it likes playing with you. It engages you. So every thing can be different, and every thing can represent what it feels.
在這個特殊的案例, 蘭花可以透過畫面與聲音跟你溝通。 它不喜歡被人碰觸, 所以它創造了這些電子圖像, 對你發出哈氣聲。 這個植物則比較強韌,這是虎尾蘭, 它喜歡和你一起玩, 它喜歡和你互動。 每個物件都可以有不同的呈現, 每個物件都可以表達它的感受。
So everything can be hacked, all the things, including your body. In this example, we hacked your body so you can measure how you're folding your hands and then using your hand gestures to control something else, so if you don't want to listen to some music thousands of times, you simply can cover your ears to turn it off.
每個物件都可以被駭, 所有東西,包括你的身體。 在這個案例裡面, 我們駭進你的身體。 你可以測量你如何握著手 然後利用你的手勢去控制其他東西, 所以你不想再聽同一首歌的時候, 你只要摀起耳朵,就會關掉音樂。
So everything can be hacked, and research is important, but the second challenge we have is how can we go from R and D, and prototypes, to real products? How can we make real things that are also interfaces? And you may ask yourself, who would do this? Silicon Valley? Is it through Shenzhen? Now the challenge there is that the world of things is huge. Every year, the apparel industry produces 150 billion garments. In comparison, the technology industry only makes 1.4 billion phones. The world of things is much bigger than the world of technology. The technology world cannot change the world of things. Instead, we need to create technology which changes makers of things, people who make your chairs and clothes and everything else, into makers of smart things, enable them to do that.
所有的物件都可以被駭, 而研發是很重要的。 但我們所面臨的第二個挑戰是, 我們如何從實驗的研發與原型, 跨越為市場化的產品。 我們要如何能讓日常物件, 亦能化身為互動介面? 你可能會自問:誰來做這件事呢? 是矽谷嗎? 還是深圳? 真正的挑戰是:物質世界非常龐大。 紡織業每年製造 1500 億件服裝。 對比科技業 只做了 14 億支手機。 物質世界遠大於科技世界。 科技業無法輕易地改變製造業。 相反地,我們必須發明科技, 好讓那些製造者, 製作椅子、衣服及其他物件的人, 有能力成為智慧物件的製造者。
So to test this challenge, we came up with a very simple idea and challenge: Can a tailor make a wearable? Now we don't want to take a tailor and turn the tailor into an electrical engineer. We still want to have some tailors around. But what we would like to do is create technology which looks, feels and behaves like a raw material used by the tailor to make their clothes. For example, a touch panel made for a tailor would look like this, made out of textiles, so you can cut it with scissors and sew it in. At the same time, it has to retain the performance. The way to make this textile touch panel also requires a very different approach than for making consumer electronics. In our case, we have to go to the mountains of Tokyo to a small factory which was making kimono garments for generations. We worked with my collaborators, who were not engineers. It was an artisan who knows how to make things and an artist who knows how to make things beautiful.
我們為了嘗試這個命題, 有個很簡單的想法和測試: 裁縫師可以製作出穿戴型裝置嗎? 我們不想把裁縫師 改造為電機工程師。 我們還是希望 保有裁縫師(的本質)。 我們想要的是去發明科技, 讓這些材料看起來、 摸起來、用起來, 都像裁縫師們製作衣物的素材。 舉例,為裁縫師設計的 觸控板,看起來就像這樣。 以織品製成,你可以 將其剪下、將它縫入。 於此同時,保有原本的功能。 製作織品的觸控板 和製作消費型電子產品, 需要使用不同的手法。 在我們的案例,我們 去到了東京的山裡。 一個世世代代製作 和服纖維的小工廠。 我們的合作夥伴, 他們不是工程師。 而是熟知纖維製程的達人, 和擅長創造美麗事物的藝術家。
Working with them, we created one of the best yarns in the world, which consists of thin metallic alloys wrapped around with polyester fibers and cotton fibers. These yarns were made in the same machines which were making yarns for kimonos for generations. We then took these yarns and gave them to the factory, which is making textiles, and we wove our smart textile using regular machines in a variety of colors and materials, and we gave those textiles to a tailor in Savile Row in London.
和他們共事,我們一同創造了 世界上最棒的纖維之一。 其中包含了薄薄的金屬合金 被纏繞在聚酯纖維和棉纖維之中。 這些導電纖維同樣是被那些 世世代代用於生產和服的 既有機器,所製作出來的。 我們接著把這些線送到了 紡織品的工廠。 我們用普通的機器 縫製這些智慧型紡織品。 創造出不同的顏色和質料, 然後我們將這些織品遞給 倫敦薩佛街(以傳統客製男士 服裝行業而聞名)的裁縫師。
So tailors are traditionalists, particularly in Savile Row. They don't use computers. They don't use machines. They use hands and they cut. They fit their products on the human body, not on 3-D avatars. Technology is not a part of their vocabulary, but they are modern people. They know how to use technology. So if technology can be formed and shaped like a button, like a textile, like something they can use, they absolutely can make a wearable, a garment which can place a phone call.
裁縫師是傳統主義者, 尤其是薩佛街的裁縫師們。 他們不用電腦, 不用機器, 而是親手縫製與剪裁。 他們在人體上確認產品的尺寸, 不用 3-D 虛擬化身。 科技不在他們的詞彙裡, 但他們是現代人, 他們知道如何使用科技。 所以如果科技可以設計和製作出 像是鈕釦、紡織品, 這些他們擅長使用的物件, 那他們絕對能夠製造出穿戴型裝置, 一個可以撥打電話的服飾。
(Phone rings)
(撥話聲響)
So now we've proven that you can actually make a wearable, not by an electronic company, but by a tailor. We worked and collaborated with Levi's, our partners and our neighbors, to make a real product, and this product is this jacket I'm wearing right now. You can buy it. It's on sale. It was made in the same factories which make all their products, and you have noticed I've been controlling my presentation from the sleeve of the jacket. I go like this, it goes forward. Like this, it goes backward. And of course, I can do more things. It's not just to control a presentation. I can now control my navigation, control my music, but most importantly, it stays a jacket, it stays a thing, which makes me look great.
現在我們證明了: 透過裁縫師而非科技公司, 來製造穿戴型裝置的確可行。 我們與我們的夥伴、 鄰居 Levi's 一同合作, 創造出貨真價實的商品, 這個商品正是我穿的這件夾克。 你可以買到這件外套, 它已正式販售。 它是由那些製造原本產品的 既有工廠做出來的。 而你們可能注意到了 我一直透過外套的袖子 來控制我的簡報。 像這樣,便往下一頁, 像這樣,就往前一頁。 當然,我還可以透過它做更多事, 它不只可以控制簡報、 收聽導航通知、控制音樂播放, 但更重要的是它仍然是件夾克, 仍維持原本的功能, 扮靚我。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
(Applause)
(掌聲)
And that's the most important thing.
這才是最重要的事情。
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
So OK, we proved we can turn things into interfaces. We proved that these things can be made by makers of things and not by technology companies. I look awesome. Are we done?
好的,我們已經證明了: 我們可以把物件變成介面、 證明了不僅是科技公司, 傳統的製造業 也可以做出智慧型裝置。 我看起來好極了,就這樣了嗎?
(Laughter)
(笑聲)
Not yet. The third challenge: How can we scale? How can we go from one product to many products? And that's what we're working on right now. Let me tell you how we're going to do this.
還沒! 第三個挑戰: 我們如何複製和規模化? 我們如何從單一商品 拓展到更多產品? 這正是我們在努力的。 讓我告訴你們,我們將如何達到。
First of all, I want to make myself clear -- I am not talking about the Internet of Things. I'm not talking about creating another gadget you get bored with and throw in the back of your drawer and forget about. I am talking about the foundational, important principle which guides my work: "Technology has to make existing things better." It makes them better by connecting them to your digital life and adds new usefulness and new functionality while remaining the same original purpose, not changing it. This jacket I am wearing can control my mobile phone and presentation, but it still remains a jacket. That means that once we start making all things interactive and connected, every thing would have its own set of actuators, displays and sensors specific for those things. A pair of running shoes does not need to have a touch sensor. Why would it have one? If you have a sensor, it should measure your running performance or knee impact, while remaining a great pair of shoes.
首先,我想要說清楚, 我在談的不是物聯網。 我不是在談如何再創造另一個裝置, 有一天你覺得無聊了, 然後把它丟進抽屜裡, 然後從此將它遺忘。 我講的是,我的工作指導方針中 最基本且重要的原則: 「科技要讓既有的東西更好。」 讓東西更好的方式是: 將其連結到人們的數位生活, 並增添了新的實用性與功能性, 同時保有原本的目的,而非改造它。 我穿的夾克, 可以控制我的手機和簡報, 但它仍然是件夾克。 這意味著一旦我們開始讓 所有物件具有互動性跟連網, 那每件物品都必須擁有專屬的 致動器、顯示器、感測器。 但一雙跑鞋並不需要觸控感測器, 跑鞋怎麼會需要? 如果你有一個感測器, 它該測量的是你跑步的狀態, 或者是對膝蓋的衝擊, 同時仍然是一雙好的跑鞋。
Makers of things will have to start thinking what kind of digital functionality they have to offer to their consumers. They will have to become service providers, or they may become irrelevant. We will have to provide and create a service ecosystem just like we've done for mobile phones, where you have apps and services and everything else, and sometimes, you're still making a phone call.
製造商必須開始思考 可以為消費者提供 什麼樣的數位功能? 他們必須轉型為服務供應商, 否則將被市場淘汰。 我們必須提供跟創造 一個服務的平台系統, 就像為智慧手機建置的那樣, 有不同的應用程式、服務 和其他多元發展應用, 而偶爾你還是需要打個電話。
Now to make this ecosystem possible, we have to avoid fragmentation. We have to avoid different interfaces for different people for different things. We have to create uniform user experience and, for that reason, we have to create a single computing platform which powers all those things. What is the platform going to be? And I think the answer is obvious: it's a cloud, cloud computing.
為了讓這個系統變成可行, 我們得避免碎片化。 我們得避免:不同的人透過 不同的介面,在使用不同的物件。 我們必須創造一致的使用者體驗, 為此我們必須創造: 支援那些智慧物件的單一運算平台。 這個平台會是什麼樣子呢? 我想答案很明顯。 這會是個雲端平台。
Now you cannot connect things directly to the cloud, obviously. So you have to develop a small device which can be plugged into all the things and make them connected to the cloud to unlock their potential and add new functionality.
當然你無法直接把東西連結到雲端。 所以必須設計一個小型裝置, 可以被塞進所有的東西裡, 然後讓它們連結到雲端, 釋放物件的潛能、增添新的功能。
So let me show, for the first time, the real device which we've built. We are showing this for the first time. That's what it looks like, and it's a small device which will be connected to things we want to make smart and connected and interactive.
讓我首次展示我們打造的裝置, 這是我們第一次公開展示。 看起來就像這樣, 這個小裝置 將被連結在欲轉化為智慧型、 連網、具互動性的物件裡。
How is it going to work? So on the back, you have a few electrodes. So when you plug them into different things, like here, the device will recognize where you're plugging them and then reconfigure itself to enable specific functionality for this particular thing. We would like to give this device to makers of things, the people who make your clothing and furniture, so they can use it just like they use a button or a zipper. And what they're going to make with them is up to them. We don't want to dictate the use cases. We would like to let people who make those things -- artists and designers, brands and craftsmen -- to imagine and create this new world where things are connected and have all this new, exciting digital functionality. We don't need keyboards and screens and mouses to interact with your computer.
它是如何運作的呢? 在晶片背面,有電極 / 接觸點。 當你將其插到不同的物件上, 像這邊所示意的, 這個物件會辨別你在何處使用它們, 然後自我重新配置組態, 為不同目的啟動各自用途。 我們想對製造商提供這個裝置, 那些製作服飾跟家具的人, 就像運用鈕釦、拉鍊一般地運用它。 要如何使用這個裝置將由他們決定。 我們不想要規定使用的方式。 我們想讓那些製造者—— 像是藝術家、設計師、 品牌商跟工匠達人, 去想像並創造出嶄新的世界, 在那,萬物都是相連的, 且擁有創新且令人興奮的數位用途。 我們不再需要鍵盤、螢幕 跟滑鼠來與電腦互動。
So I've been working on this idea for 20 years, and now it's taking shape, and as it's taking shape, what we are realizing is that I always thought I was working on computer interfaces, I always thought of myself as an interaction designer, but I'm realizing that I'm not building interfaces. What I realized is that me and my team, we're building a new kind of computer, an ambient computer.
我為這個想法努力了 20 年, 而今它逐漸成形, 在它逐漸成形之際,我們發現: 我以為我一直在鑽研的是電腦介面, 我一直把自己想成是互動設計師, 但我現在發現我並不是在打造介面。 我發現我和我的團隊, 我們在打造的是一種 新型態的電腦—— 一種情境式的電腦。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)