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AukeIjspeert_2015G-_一个出水能跑，入水能游的蜥蜴机械人_
This is Pleurobot. 这是机械蝾螈,
Pleurobot is a robot that we designed to closely mimic a salamander species called Pleurodeles waltl. 机械蝾螈是一种遥控机具,我们设计时,高度模拟了一类 称为欧非肋突螈的两栖类。
mimic:vt.模仿,摹拟;n.效颦者,模仿者;仿制品;小丑;adj.模仿的,模拟的;假装的; salamander:n.火蜥蜴;蝾螈目动物;耐火的人;烤箱; species:n.[生物]物种;种类;
Pleurobot can walk, as you can see here, and as you'll see later, it can also swim. 七鰓鳗和蜥蜴肢体活动的模拟, 稍后你也会看到,它会游泳,
as you can see:正如你所看到的;你是知道的;
So you might ask, why did we design this robot? 你可能会问,我们为甚么要设计这一类的遥控机械?
And in fact, this robot has been designed as a scientific tool for neuroscience . 事实上,这具机械是设计来作为脑神经研究的科研工具。
scientific:adj.科学的,系统的; neuroscience:n.神经系统科学(指神经病学,神经化学等);
Indeed, we designed it together with neurobiologists to understand how animals move, and especially how the spinal cord controls locomotion . 我们也确实在设计的时候,伙同脑神经学家们 去理解动物怎样律动, 尤其去理解脊髓如何控制肢体行动。
neurobiologists:神经生物学家; especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; spinal cord:n.脊髓; locomotion:n.运动;移动;旅行;
But the more I work in biorobotics, the more I'm really impressed by animal locomotion. 但当我在机械生物做出愈多的研究, 我愈讶异于动物的肢体行动。
impressed:adj.印象深刻; v.使钦佩; (impress的过去分词和过去式)
If you think of a dolphin swimming or a cat running or jumping around, or even us as humans, when you go jogging or play tennis, we do amazing things. 请你想像一下,一只海豚的游泳或一只猫儿的奔跑跳跃, 或甚至是我们人类 在慢跑或打网球时, 我们是在做惊奇的事情。
dolphin:n.海豚; jogging:n.慢跑锻炼;v.慢跑(尤指锻炼);(偶然地)轻击;轻碰;(jog的现在分词)
And in fact, our nervous system solves a very, very complex control problem. 事实上,我们的神经系统解决了一个非常非常复杂的控制问题。
nervous system:n.神经系统; complex:adj.复杂的;合成的;n.复合体;综合设施;
It has to coordinate more or less 200 muscles perfectly, because if the coordination is bad, we fall over or we do bad locomotion. 它需要完美得协调大约二百组肌肉, 如果协调得不好,我们会摔倒,或行动得蹩扭。
coordinate:n.坐标; v.协调; adj.同等的; more or less:或多或少; muscles:n.肌肉(muscle的复数); coordination:n.协调,调和;对等,同等;
And my goal is to understand how this works. 而我的目标就是要理解这是如何运作的。
There are four main components behind animal locomotion. 动物的肢体行动,有四个主要元件。
components:n.部件;组件;成份(component复数);
The first component is just the body, and in fact we should never underestimate to what extent the biomechanics already simplify locomotion in animals. 第一个元件就是身体, 事实上,我们都不应该低估 生物力学已经简化动物的肢体行动到哪种程度。
underestimate:v.低估;看轻;n.低估; extent:n.程度;范围;长度; biomechanics:n.生物力学;生物机械学; simplify:vt.简化;使单纯;使简易;
Then you have the spin al cord, and in the spin al cord you find reflexes , multiple reflexes that create a sensorimotor coordination loop between neural activity in the spin al cord a nd nt color="Black"> mechanical activity. 第二个元件就是脊髓, 你在脊髓里可以找到反射作用, 多重反射作用会在脊髓的神经活动与机械活动之间 产生出一种感知运动的协调回路,
spin:v.旋转;纺纱;吐丝;纺线;n.头晕;(快速)旋转;常用于英式英语;晕头转向; reflexes:n.反应;条件反射;扑救反应(守门员);放射(reflex的复数形式); multiple:adj.数量多的;多种多样的;n.倍数; sensorimotor:adj.感觉运动的(等于sensomotor); mechanical:adj.机械的;力学的;呆板的;无意识的;手工操作的;
A third component are central pattern generators . 第三个元件是中枢模式产生器。
generators:n.[电]发电机;[计]生成器(generator的复数);
These are very interesting circuits in the spinal cord of vertebrate animals that can generate , by themselves, very coordinated rhythmic patterns of activity while receiving only very simple input signals. 这些非常有趣的回路,存在于脊椎动物的脊髓裏, 当它接收到非常简单的输入讯号时, 它们可以自己产生出 非常协调且有节奏感的运动,
circuits:n.环行路线;电路;线路;巡回赛;v.巡回;周游;(circuit的第三人称单数和复数) vertebrate:adj.脊椎动物的;有脊椎的;n.脊椎动物; generate:v.产生;引起; coordinated:v.使协调;使相配合;搭配,协调;(coordinate的过去分词和过去式) rhythmic:adj.[生物]有节奏的(等于rhythmical); n.韵律论(等于rhythmics); input:n.投入; v.把(数据等)输入计算机;
And these input signals coming from descending modulation from higher parts of the brain, like the motor cortex , the cerebellum , the basal ganglia , will all modulate activity of the spinal cord while we do locomotion. 而这些输入讯号, 就是从大脑内较高部位发射出来的「下行性调控」讯号, 就如同运动皮质层、小脑,基底核一样, 而当我们在做肢体活动的时候, 它能够调控脊髓的所有活动。
descending:adj.下降的,递减的;v.下来;下去;下降;降临;来临(descend的现在分词) modulation:n.[电子]调制;调整; cortex:n.[解剖]皮质;树皮;果皮; cerebellum:n.[解剖]小脑; basal:adj.基部的;基础的; ganglia:n.神经节;神经中枢; modulate:vt.调节;(信号)调制;调整;vi.调制;转调;
But what's interesting is to what extent just a low-level component, the spinal cord, together with the body, already solve a big part of the locomotion problem. 有趣的是,在某些程度上, 这些脊髓,连同身体, 已经可以解决大部份肢体的活动问题。
low-level:adj.低水平的;低级别的;
You probably know it by the fact that you can cut the head off a chicken, it can still run for a while , showing that just the lower part, spinal cord and body, already solve a big part of locomotion. 你大概也知道一个事实,当一只鸡被砍头之后, 它还可以再跑一会儿, 这表示,仅仅较低部位的脊髓和身体, 已经解决了大部份肢体活动的问题。
for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时;
Now, understanding how this works is very complex, because first of all , recording activity in the spinal cord is very difficult. 要理解这是如何运作的,其实也蛮复杂的, 因为,首先, 要记录脊髓里面的活动非常困难。
first of all:adv.首先;
It's much easier to implant electrodes in the motor cortex than in the spinal cord, because it's protected by the vertebrae . 在大脑运动皮层植入电极远比在脊髓植入电极容易, 因为它被脊椎骨保护着。
implant:vt.种植;灌输;嵌入;n.[医]植入物;植入管;vi.被移植; electrodes:n.[电]电极(electrode的复数);电焊条; vertebrae:n.[解剖]椎骨;脊椎;
Especially in humans, very hard to do. 尤其是在人类身上,非常难办到。
A second difficulty is that locomotion is really due to a very complex and very dynamic interaction between these four components. 第二个困难,有很大的原因是,肢体行动在这四个元件之间, 是非常复杂且动态交互作用着的。
dynamic:n.动力; adj.充满活力的; interaction:n.[计]交互,相互作用;相互交流;干扰;
So it's very hard to find out what's the role of each over time. 所以每次要找出那一个元件担任那一个角色,真的是很困难。
This is where biorobots like Pleurobot and mathematical models can really help. 这也是为什么机械生物,在建立像是机械蝾螈和数学模组上很有幫助的原因。
biorobots:仿生自动机; mathematical:adj.数学的,数学上的;精确的;
So what's biorobotics? 所以甚么是机械生物呢？
Biorobotics is a very active field of research in robotics where people want to take inspiration from animals to make robots to go outdoors, like service robots or search and rescue robots or field robots. 机械生物是机械科研里一个非常活跃的领域, 人们都想从动物里得到启发, 制成一些可以到户外去的机械人, 像是一些服务業机械人,或是可从事搜索和救援的机械人 或是农耕机械人。
robotics:n.机器人学; rescue:n.救援;抢救;营救;获救;v.抢救;营救;援救;
And the big goal here is to take inspiration from animals to make robots that can handle complex terrain -- stairs, mountains, forests, places where robots still have difficulties and where animals can do a much better job. 而主要目的就是,要从动物身上得到启发 来制造一些机械人,可以处理一些复杂的地形-- 像是楼梯、山脉、森林、 一些机械人仍然遇到困难的地方, 以及动物可以做得更好的地方。
handle:n.[建]把手;柄;手感;口实;v.处理;操作;运用;买卖;触摸; terrain:n.[地理]地形,地势;领域;地带;
The robot can be a wonderful scientific tool as well. 机械人同样也是神奇的科研工具,
There are some very nice projects where robots are used, like a scientific tool for neuroscience, for biomechanics or for hydrodynamics . 有些很棒的科研项目利用机械人 做为脑神经、生物力学或水力学的科研工具。
hydrodynamics:n.[流]流体力学;[流]水动力学;流体动力学;
And this is exactly the purpose of Pleurobot. 而这就是做机械蝾螈的目的。
So what we do in my lab is to collaborate with neurobiologists like Jean-Marie Cabelguen, a neurobiologist in Bordeaux in France, and we want to make spinal cord models and validate them on robots. 在我的实验室,我们伙同脑神经生物学家 例如法国波尔多的脑神经生物学家Jean-Marie Cabelguen, 我们打算制作出脊髓的模型,然后在机器人上验证。
collaborate:vi.合作;勾结,通敌; Bordeaux:n.波尔多(法国西南部港市);波尔多葡萄酒; validate:v.证实;确认;使生效;批准;认可;
And here we want to start simple. 我们希望从简单出发。
So it's good to start with simple animals like lampreys , which are very primitive fish, and then gradually go toward more complex locomotion, like in salamanders , but also in cats and in humans, in mammals . 所以从简单的动物开始就好, 像是七鰓鳗,非常原始的鱼类, 然后逐渐地迈向更复杂的肢体活动, 像是蜥蜴, 但也包含猫、人类, 哺乳动物等。
lampreys:n.七鳃类(lamprey的复数形式); primitive:adj.原始的,远古的;简单的,粗糙的;n.原始人; gradually:adv.渐渐地;逐步地; salamanders:n.[脊椎]蝾螈;火蜥蜴(salamander的复数形式); mammals:n.哺乳动物;(mammal的复数)
And here, a robot becomes an interesting tool to validate our models. 所以,机械人成为了一个 可以验证我们模型的有趣工具。
And in fact, for me, Pleurobot is a kind of dream becoming true. 事实上对我来说,机械蝾螈算是圆了我一个梦想。
Like, more or less 20 years ago I was already working on a computer making simulations of lamprey and salamander locomotion during my PhD. 大概二十年前,在我博士班的期间, 我已经在电脑上,制作一些 七鰓鳗和蜥蜴肢体活动的模拟,
simulations:n.[计]模拟(simulation的复数);[计]仿真;
But I always knew that my simulations were just approximations . 但我一直以来都知道,我的模拟只是粗略概算。
approximations:[数]近似值;
Like, simulating the physics in water or with mud or with complex ground, it's very hard to simulate that properly on a computer. 像是在水中模拟物理现象,或是在混杂泥土里或是复杂的地表面上, 这些都是很难在电脑上适当地模拟出来的。
simulating:n.模拟;假装; simulate:vt.模仿;假装;冒充;adj.模仿的;假装的;
Why not have a real robot and real physics? 为什么不干脆做一个真实的机械人或真实的物体？
So among all these animals, one of my favorites is the salamander. 在众多的动物里,蜥蜴是我喜欢的其中之一。
You might ask why, and it's because as an amphibian , it's a really key animal from an evolutionary point of view . 你大概想知道为什么,因为以两栖动物而言, 从进化的角度来看,蜥蜴其实是很重要的动物。
amphibian:n.[脊椎]两栖动物; adj.两栖类的; evolutionary:adj.进化的;发展的;渐进的; point of view:观点;见地;立场;
It makes a wonderful link between swimming, as you find it in eels or fish, and quadruped locomotion, as you see in mammals, in cats and humans. 它完美的串联起 水栖动物的游泳（像是鳗鱼或鱼） 以及哺乳类动物的四肢活动（像是猫或人）。
eels:n.鳗鱼;鳗;鳗鲡;(eel的复数) quadruped:n.[脊椎]四足动物;adj.有四足的;
And in fact, the modern salamander is very close to the first terrestrial vertebrate, so it's almost a living fossil , which gives us access to our ancestor, the ancestor to all terrestrial tetrapods . 事实上,现代的蜥蜴 与第一代的陆栖脊椎动物非常相近, 几乎就是一种活化石, 让我们可以接近自己的祖宗, 所有陆栖四肢动物的祖宗。
terrestrial:adj.地球的;陆地的,[生物]陆生的;人间的;n.陆地生物;地球上的人; fossil:n.化石;老人;老古董;adj.从地下发掘出来的;化石的;属于旧时代的;陈腐的; tetrapods:n.四足动物(tetrapod的复数);四肢类;
So the salamander swims by doing what's called an anguilliform swimming gait , so they propagate a nice traveling wave of muscle activity from head to tail. 蜥蜴是藉由一种称为鳗游的泳态, 来进行游泳的动作, 它们从头部到尾部的肌肉活动,传递出一种很优美的游行波浪。
anguilliform:adj.鳗状的; gait:n.步法,步态;v.训练步法; propagate:vt.传播;传送;繁殖;宣传;vi.繁殖;增殖;
And if you place the salamander on the ground, it switches to what's called a walking trot gait. 而当你把蜥蜴放在地面上时, 它又会转化为快走的步态。
trot:v.快步;疾走;小跑;骑马小跑;n.慢跑,小跑,小步快跑;
In this case, you have nice periodic activation of the limbs which are very nicely coordinated with this standing wave undulation of the body, and that's exactly the gait that you are seeing here on Pleurobot. 在这个案例,你有很好的周期性肢体律动 可以非常好地协调出 这样持续性波浪的身体起伏, 就如你们现在所看到的机械蝾螈的步态。
periodic:adj.周期的;定期的; activation:n.[电子][物]激活;活化作用; limbs:n.[解剖]四肢(limb的复数); nicely:adv.细致地;有吸引力;令人满意;令人愉快;adj.强健的; undulation:n.波动;起伏;
Now, one thing which is very surprising and fascinating in fact is the fact that all this can be generated just by the spinal cord and the body. 事实上,其中一件很令人讶异却又赞叹的事实就是... 这些活动可以仅藉由脊髓和身体就可以启动了。
fascinating:adj.极有吸引力的;迷人的;v.深深吸引;迷住;(fascinate的现在分词) generated:v.产生;引起;(generate的过去式和过去分词)
So if you take a decerebrated salamander -- it's not so nice but you remove the head -- and if you electrically stimulate the spinal cord, at low level of stimulation this will induce a walking-like gait. 所以即使是一只没有脑袋的蜥蜴 -- 那不是太好, 但当移除了头颅-- 而你用电殛刺激脊髓, 在低电流的刺激下,会做出走路一样的步态。
decerebrated:vt.切除(大脑);adj.去脑的;有去脑特征的;丧失理智的; electrically:adv.电力地;有关电地; stimulate:v.刺激;激发;促进;激励; stimulation:n.刺激;激励,鼓舞; induce:v.导致;引起;诱使;劝说;
If you stimulate a bit more, the gait accelerates . 如果你稍稍加强刺激度,步伐就会随之加快。
accelerates:vt.使…加快;使…增速;vi.加速;促进;增加;
And at some point, there's a threshold , and automatically , the animal switches to swimming. 到了若干程度,会有一个临界点, 随后,动物会自动地从行走转为游泳
threshold:n.入口;门槛;开始;极限;临界值; automatically:adv.自动地;机械地;无意识地;adj.不经思索的;
This is amazing. 这真是神乎其技。
Just changing the global drive, as if you are pressing the gas pedal of descending modulation to your spinal cord, makes a complete switch between two very different gaits . 只是改变了中央的驱动器, 就如同你在踩油门一样, 把下行性调控讯号传递到你的脊髓, 在两种不一样的模式间相互切换。
global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; gas pedal:n.(汽车等的)加速装置; gaits:n.步行靴(gait的复数形式);
And in fact, the same has been observed in cats. 其实同样的情况,在猫身上也观察得到,
observed:adj.观察的;观测的;v.观察;遵守;注意到(observe的过去分词形式);
If you stimulate the spinal cord of a cat, you can switch between walk, trot and gallop . 如果你刺激一只猫的脊髓, 你能够在其间切换模式:行走、缓跑和急步跑。
gallop:n.疾驰;飞奔;vi.飞驰;急速进行;急急忙忙地说;vt.使飞跑;迅速运输;
Or in birds, you can make a bird switch between walking, at a low level of stimulation, and flapping its wings at high-level stimulation. 或在鸟类身上,你可以随兴切换一只小鸟, 在低电流时,走路, 在高电流刺激时,挥动翅膀。
flapping:n.拍动;摇摆运动;adj.摇摆运动的;挥动的;v.拍打,轻拍(flap的现在分词); high-level:adj.高级的;高阶层的;在高空的;
And this really shows that the spinal cord is a very sophisticated locomotion controller. 而这告诉我们, 脊髓是个非常复杂精密的肢体行动控制器。
sophisticated:adj.复杂的;老练的;见多识广的;水平高的;
So we studied salamander locomotion in more detail, and we had in fact access to a very nice X-ray video machine from Professor Martin Fischer in Jena University in Germany. 于是我们更仔细的研究蜥蜴的肢体行动, 其我们有一部很好的X光录影机, 是由德国 Jena 大学的 Martin Fischer 教授所提供。
And thanks to that, you really have an amazing machine to record all the bone motion in great detail. 感谢有这部神奇的机器, 把所有的骨骼行动都仔细的纪录下来。
That's what we did. 这就是我们在做的事。
So we basically figured out which bones are important for us and collected their motion in 3D. 基本上,我们找出了对我们来说重要的骨骼, 并且收集它们的3D动作。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上;
And what we did is collect a whole database of motions, both on ground and in water, to really collect a whole database of motor behaviors that a real animal can do. 我们所做的就是收集整个骨骼的动作资料庫, 从水上到陆上, 实际地去收集一只动物所有的 移动行为资料庫。
And then our job as roboticists was to replicate that in our robot. 而我们机械设计学家的工作就是,将这些资料复制到我们的机械人。
roboticists:n.机器人专家; replicate:vt.复制; vi.重复; adj.复制的; n.复制品;
So we did a whole optimization process to find out the right structure , where to place the motors, how to connect them together, to be able to replay these motions as well as possible. 所以我们做了全方位的优化程序来找出正确的结构、 在哪里放置马达、 如何把它们连接一起,尽可能地重制出这些动作等等。
optimization:n.最佳化,最优化; process:v.处理;加工;列队行进;n.过程,进行;方法,adj.经过特殊加工(或处理)的; structure:n.结构;构造;建筑物;vt.组织;构成;建造; as well as:也;和…一样;不但…而且;
And this is how Pleurobot came to life. 机械蝾螈就是这样成型的。
So let's look at how close it is to the real animal. 让我们来看看它跟真正的动物有多近似。
So what you see here is almost a direct comparison between the walking of the real animal and the Pleurobot. 你现在看到的是,真正的动物和机械蝾螈在行走时 直接对比的影片。
comparison:n.比较;对比;相比;
You can see that we have almost a one-to-one exact replay of the walking gait. 你可以看到几乎是一比一的比例, 重演着走路的步态。
one-to-one:adj.一对一的;一一对应的;
If you go backwards and slowly, you see it even better. 如果你倒退或慢动作,你可以看得更清楚。
But even better, we can do swimming. 更棒的是,我们可以游泳。
So for that we have a dry suit that we put all over the robot -- 我们甚至为机械蝾螈穿上了潜水衣--
(Laughter) （笑声）
and then we can go in water and start replaying the swimming gaits. 然后我们可以到水里,开始重制游泳的泳态。
replaying:v.重赛;重新播放(replay的现在分词)
And here, we were very happy, because this is difficult to do. 我们对于此很高兴,因为这个真的很难。
The physics of interaction are complex. 互动的物理现象相当复杂。
Our robot is much bigger than a small animal, so we had to do what's called dynamic scaling of the frequencies to make sure we had the same interaction physics. 我们的机械蝾螈要比小动物大很多, 所以我们得找出称之为「等比例动态」的频率, 来确定我们也得到了一样的互动物理现象。
scaling:n.缩放比例; v.剥落; frequencies:n.频率;发生率;重复率;频繁;(frequency的复数)
But you see at the end, we have a very close match, and we were very, very happy with this. 你可以看到,最后我们可以非常接近地运动, 所以我们对此非常非常的高兴。
So let's go to the spinal cord. 现在我们来看看脊髓。
So here what we did with Jean-Marie Cabelguen is model the spinal cord circuits. 模拟了脊髓的回路。
And what's interesting is that the salamander has kept a very primitive circuit, which is very similar to the one we find in the lamprey, this primitive eel-like fish, and it looks like during evolution, 有趣的是,蜥蜴 保持了最原始的回路, 非常相近于我们找到的七鰓鳗, 这个像鳗鱼的原始鱼类, 看起来像是在进化期间,
eel-like:似鳗的;
new neural oscillators have been added to control the limbs, to do the leg locomotion. 有新的神经振动器会被加进来去控制肢体 来带动腿的行动。
oscillators:n.[电子]振荡器(oscillator的复数);
And we know where these neural oscillators are but what we did was to make a mathematical model to see how they should be coupled to allow this transition between the two very different gaits. 我们知道这些神经振动器在哪里, 但我们要做的是,计算出数学模式, 看看怎样把他们配对起来, 来让这两种非常不同的动作可以自由转换。
transition:n.过渡;转变;变革;变迁;v.经历转变过程;过渡;
And we tested that on board of a robot. 我们就在机械蝾螈的电板上测试。
And this is how it looks. 而它看起来就像是这样。
So what you see here is a previous version of Pleurobot that's completely controlled by our spinal cord model programmed on board of the robot. 这里你们看到的是,上一代版本的机械蝾螈, 完全由我们输入在电路板上 的脊髓模组程式所控制。
previous:adj.以前的;早先的;过早的;adv.在先;在…以前;
And the only thing we do is send to the robot through a remote control the two descending signals it normally should receive from the upper part of the brain. 我们唯一做的是, 透过遥控器,向机械人发出 两组下行性调控讯号,而这通常源自于 脑部的上半部分。
remote control:遥控; normally:adv.正常地;通常地,一般地; upper:adj.上面的;内陆的;n.靴面;兴奋剂;
And what's interesting is, by playing with these signals, we can completely control speed, heading and type of gait. 有趣的是,通过这些讯号 我们可以完全控制速度、前进、步、泳态。
For instance , when we stimulate at a low level, we have the walking gait, and at some point, if we stimulate a lot, very rapidly it switches to the swimming gait. 比方说, 当我们透过低电流作出刺激时,我们得到的是行走的状态, 来到某种程度,如果我们加强了刺激 , 它会迅速地转化为游泳的状态。
instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例;
And finally , we can also do turning very nicely by just stimulating more one side of the spinal cord than the other. 最后,我们也可轻鬆的转向 主要在脊髓左右两边,在其中的一边加以刺激就可以了。
finally:adv.终于;最终;(用于列举)最后;彻底地; stimulating:adj.激励人的; v.促进; (stimulate的现在分词)
And I think it's really beautiful how nature has distributed control to really give a lot of responsibility to the spinal cord so that the upper part of the brain doesn't need to worry about every muscle. 我觉得这真是漂亮 自然界先天的分配了控制权 把很多责任交付予脊髓, 所以大脑的上半部分不需要再烦恼每一条肌肉。
distributed:adj.分布的;分散的;v.分发;分配;使分布(distribute的过去分词和过去式)
It just has to worry about this high-level modulation, and it's really the job of the spinal cord to coordinate all the muscles. 大脑只负担高层次的调节, 协调各肌肉的任务,就交付予脊髓了。
So now let's go to cat locomotion and the importance of biomechanics. 现在我们来看看猫的行动和生物力学的重要性。
So this is another project where we studied cat biomechanics, and we wanted to see how much the morphology helps locomotion. 这是另一个项目, 我们研究猫的生物力学, 而我们想知道形态学对于肢体活动的幫助。
morphology:n.形态学,形态论;[语]词法,[语]词态学;
And we found three important criteria in the properties, basically, of the limbs. 我们得出了三个性质的标准, 基本上,就是肢体内的性质。
criteria:n.标准,条件(criterion的复数);
The first one is that a cat limb more or less looks like a pantograph-like structure. 首先就是猫的肢体, 大概类似导电弓架的结构。
So a pantograph is a mechanical structure which keeps the upper segment and the lower segments always parallel . 导电弓架是一个机电的结构 永恒的保持着上部份和下部份的平行。
pantograph:n.放大尺;缩放仪;缩图仪;比例画图仪器; segments:n.片段; v.把…分割成段; parallel:adj.平行的; v.与…相似; n.极其相似的人(或情况、事件等);
So a simple geometrical system that kind of coordinates a bit the internal movement of the segments. 其实就是一个简单的几何系统, 协调着各部位的内部移动。
geometrical:adj.几何的,几何学的; coordinates:n.[数]坐标;相配之衣物;v.使协调;使调和(coordinate的第三人称单数形式); internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的;
A second property of cat limbs is that they are very lightweight . 猫儿肢体的第二个性质是非常轻量。
lightweight:n.轻量级选手;无足轻重的人;adj.重量轻的;平均重量以下的;
Most of the muscles are in the trunk, which is a good idea, because then the limbs have low inertia and can be moved very rapidly. 大部份的肌肉集中在驱体内, 这是很棒的点子,因为这样肢体不会有低度的惰性 反而能够迅速的活动。
inertia:n.[力]惯性;惰性,迟钝;不活动;
The last final important property is this very elastic behavior of the cat limb, so to handle impacts and forces. 最后很重要的性质是,猫的肢体弹力很强, 有利于处理好冲击力和震荡力。
elastic:n.橡皮圈;adj.有弹力(弹性)的;伸缩自如的;机变的; impacts:n.影响; v.有影响,有作用;
And this is how we designed Cheetah-Cub. 我们也是如此设计小猎豹的。
So let's invite Cheetah-Cub onstage . 现在有请小猎豹到台上来。
onstage:adj.台上的;台上演出的;adv.上台;上场;
So this is Peter Eckert, who does his PhD on this robot, and as you see, it's a cute little robot. 这位是 Peter Eckert,他用这部机械人作他的博士学位研究, 你可以看到,这是一只可爱的小机械。
It looks a bit like a toy, but it was really used as a scientific tool to investigate these properties of the legs of the cat. 它看起来有点像是玩具, 但其实却是个科研工具, 用来查证猫儿四腿的特质。
investigate:v.调查;研究;审查;
So you see, it's very compliant , very lightweight, and also very elastic, so you can easily press it down and it will not break. 你可以看到,它非常柔韧,非常轻量, 同时也非常的弹性, 所以你可以很轻鬆的把它压下而丝毫不损。
compliant:adj.顺从的;服从的;应允的;
It will just jump, in fact. 实际上,它只会弹跳。
And this very elastic property is also very important. 这个弹力的性质也非常重要。
And you also see a bit these properties of these three segments of the leg as pantograph. 你同时也可以看到一些其他特质, 就是导电弓架作为脚部的三个部份。
Now, what's interesting is that this quite dynamic gait is obtained purely in open loop, meaning no sensors , no complex feedback loops . 有趣的是,这很有动态, 纯粹来自开放式的回路, 意思就是没有探测器,也没有复杂的回馈回路。
obtained:v.获得(obtain的过去分词); purely:adv.完全;仅仅; sensors:n.[自]传感器,感应器;感测器(sensor的复数); feedback:n.反馈;反馈意见;回授;[电子]反馈; loops:n.[计]循环(loop复数); v.使...成环,以圈结,以环连结(loop的第三人称单数形式);
And that's interesting, because it means that just the mechanics already stabilized this quite rapid gait, and that really good mechanics already basically simplify locomotion. 那是很有趣的,因为那意味着, 单靠机械模式,已能把这快速的步态稳定下来, 所以只需要有很好的机械性,基本上已能够简化肢体的活动。
stabilized:adj.稳定的;减摇的;v.稳定(stabilize的过去分词);
To the extent that we can even disturb a bit locomotion, as you will see in the next video, where we can for instance do some exercise where we have the robot go down a step, and the robot will not fall over, which was a surprise for us. 在某程度上, 我们甚至可以对肢体行动,作出一些干预, 就正如你将看到的影像一样, 比方说我们可以做一些运动,让机械人下楼梯, 而且机械人不会跌倒, 那其实让我们很讶异。
disturb:v.打扰;干扰;使不安;使烦恼;
This is a small perturbation . 这是轻微的干扰。
perturbation:n.[数][天]摄动;不安;扰乱;
I was expecting the robot to immediately fall over, because there are no sensors, no fast feedback loop. 我预期机械会立刻翻倒, 因为没有探测器,也没有迅速回馈的回路。
But no, just the mechanics stabilized the gait, and the robot doesn't fall over. 但不,单靠机械模式已能把这步态稳定下来, 而机械人并没有翻倒。
Obviously, if you make the step bigger, and if you have obstacles , you need the full control loops and reflexes and everything. 显而易见,如果你跨大了步伐,再加上你遇到了障碍物, 你就会需要完整的控制回路,还要所有的反射动作及每样东西。
obstacles:n.障碍;障碍物;阻碍;(obstacle的复数形式)
But what's important here is that just for small perturbation, the mechanics are right. 这里重要的是,只是轻微的干扰, 机械性能就正确了。
And I think this is a very important message from biomechanics and robotics to neuroscience, saying don't underestimate to what extent the body already helps locomotion. 我相信这是很重要的讯息, 从生物力学及机械学以至脑神经科学, 不要低估身体其实在某种程度,已经幫助了肢体行动。
Now, how does this relate to human locomotion? 现在,这个跟人类肢体活动有甚么关系呢？
Clearly, human locomotion is more complex than cat and salamander locomotion, but at the same time , the nervous system of humans is very similar to that of other vertebrates . 非常明显,人类的肢体活动,远远比猫和蜥蜴的复杂, 但同时间,人类的神经系统 却又和其他的脊椎动物非常类近。
at the same time:同时;另一方面;与此同时; vertebrates:n.[脊椎]脊椎动物(vertebrate的复数);
And especially the spinal cord is also the key controller for locomotion in humans. 尤其是脊髓, 同样也是人类肢体行动的关键控制器。
That's why, if there's a lesion of the spinal cord, this has dramatic effects. 所以,这也是为什么当脊髓有损害时, 会带来很严重的后果。
lesion:n.损害;身体上的伤害;机能障碍; dramatic:adj.突然的;巨大的;令人吃惊的;激动人心的;
The person can become paraplegic or tetraplegic . 那个人可能会变成下半身瘫痪或四肢瘫痪。
paraplegic:n.下身麻痹患者;adj.截瘫的; tetraplegic:n.四肢瘫痪;四肢麻痹;
This is because the brain loses this communication with the spinal cord. 这是因为大脑失去了 与脊髓的沟通。
Especially, it loses this descending modulation to initiate and modulate locomotion. 尤其是大脑失去了启动 和协调肢体活动作用的下行性调控讯号时。
initiate:vt.开始,创始; n.开始; adj.新加入的;
So a big goal of neuroprosthetics is to be able to reactivate that communication using electrical or chemical stimulations . 所以神经义肢的一个很大的目标 就是可以重启这个沟通, 借助电子或化学的刺激。
neuroprosthetics:神经义肢技术; reactivate:vt.使恢复活动;使恢复现役;使再开工;vi.再度活动;使恢复活力; chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的; stimulations:n.刺激;激励,鼓舞;
And there are several teams in the world that do exactly that, especially at EPFL. 世界上有好几个队伍正在进行这样的项目, 尤其是 EPFL 的队伍。
My colleagues Grégoire Courtine and Silvestro Micera,with whom I collaborate. 和我一起合作的同事Grégoire Courtine 和 Silvestro Micera 。
colleagues:n.同事;同行(colleague的复数);
But to do this properly, it's very important to understand how the spinal cord works, how it interacts with the body, and how the brain communicates with the spinal cord. 要恰当地做好这事情,务必要明白 脊髓如何运作, 它怎样和身体互动, 而大脑又怎样和脊髓沟通。
interacts:vi.互动;相互作用(interact的三单形式);交互;
This is where the robots and models that I've presented today will hopefully play a key role towards these very important goals. 今天我向各位展示的机械和模型 希望就是在这些非常重要的目标上 可以做出贡献。
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) (掌声)
Bruno Giussani: Auke, I've seen in your lab other robots that do things like swim in pollution and measure the pollution while they swim. Bruno Giussani: 奥克, 我曾经在你的实验室里,看过其他的机械人, 做一些例如在污染环境中游泳的事情, 并在游泳期间测量污染程度。
But for this one, you mentioned in your talk, like a side project, search and rescue, and it does have a camera on its nose. 但这一个, 你在演讲时表示,这只是一个子项目, 负责搜索和救援, 它在鼻子上也安装了照相机。
Auke Ijspeert: Absolutely . So the robot -- 奥克．捷思皮尔:对的。所以这个机械人--
Absolutely:adv.绝对地;完全地;
We have some spin-off projects where we would like to use the robots to do search and rescue inspection , so this robot is now seeing you. 我们有一些是分拆开来的项目 我们希望主要用作搜索和救援的调察, 所以这位机械人现正看着你。
spin-off:n.副产品;资产分派,让产易股; inspection:n.视察,检查;
And the big dream is to, if you have a difficult situation like a collapsed building or a building that is flooded, and this is very dangerous for a rescue team or even rescue dogs, 而远大的梦想就是,一旦你遭遇到困难 例如倒塌的建筑物,或是被淹没的建筑物, 这样的情况,对救援队、甚至救援狗而言都是非常危险的,
collapsed:v.倒塌,坍塌;倒下,昏倒;坐下;(collapse的过去分词和过去式)
why not send in a robot that can crawl around, swim, walk, with a camera onboard to do inspection and identify survivors and possibly create a communication link with the survivor. 为什么不用可以四处爬行、游泳和行走的机械人取替, 并加上照相机来协助调察和找出生还者, 甚至有可能与生还者建立沟通。
crawl:v.爬;匍匐行进;(昆虫)爬行;缓慢行进;n.爬泳;缓慢的速度;自由泳; onboard:adv.在船上;在飞机上;在板上;adj.随车携带的; identify:v.识别:鉴定:确认:发现:
BG: Of course, assuming the survivors don't get scared by the shape of this. BG: 当然,假设生还者没有被它的外型吓到。
assuming:conj.假设…为真; adj.傲慢的; v.假定; (assume的现在分词)
AI: Yeah, we should probably change the appearance quite a bit, because here I guess a survivor might die of a heart attack just of being worried that this would feed on you. AI: 对,我们大概也需要把它的外型改良一下, 不然生还者可能会心脏病发而死亡, 仅是担心它会把你吃掉。
appearance:n.外貌;外观;外表; heart attack:n.[医]心肌梗塞
But by changing the appearance and it making it more robust , 把它的外型改良一下,同时令它更耐用,
robust:adj.强健的;健康的;粗野的;粗鲁的;
I'm sure we can make a good tool out of it. 我深信这能够成为很好的工具。
BG: Thank you very much. Thank you and your team. 非常感谢。谢谢你和你的团队。