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水母机器人

来源:可可英语 编辑:Ceciliya   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet

People often like to point out that 95% of the ocean is unexplored,

人们通常喜欢指出,95%的海洋尚未被探索,
and who knows what is lurking in those vast, unseen waters. But there are animals that know: jellyfish.
谁知道在这片看不见的汪洋大海中潜伏着什么呢。但是有些动物知道:水母。
They're found throughout the ocean, from the deepest depths to the almost-empty expanse of the open seas.
它们在海洋中随处可见,从最深处到几乎空旷的公海。
If only we could travel along with them and see our underwater world the way they do. Well, maybe we can.
如果我们能和它们一同穿梭海洋,并像它们一样窥探深海该有多好啊。或许我们可以。
As far-fetched and futuristic as it might sound, researchers are working on turning jellies into ocean-exploring robots.
尽管听起来可能有些遥不可及,但研究人员们正致力于把水母变成探索海洋的机器人。
The goal is to combine a jellyfish with an electronic prosthetic to create a biohybrid robot, a jellybot, if you will.
其目标是将水母和电子假体结合在一起,创造出一个生物混合机器人,如果你愿意,我们可以称之为水母机器人。
The animals' gooey bodies and low energy requirements make them perfect candidates for this kind of cyborg tech.
这种动物黏糊糊的身体和低能量需求使它们成为这种半机械人技术的完美候选者。
And scientists have come a long way already with the design. Researchers have anchored teeny electronic prosthetics into the bells of moon jellies.
科学家们在该设计上已经取得了很大的进展。研究人员已经将微型电子假肢固定在了海月水母的伞膜上。
These send out regular electronic pulses to stimulate the jelly's muscles. Now, the devices might look pretty intrusive.
它们发出有规律的电子脉冲来刺激水母的肌肉。这些设备看起来相当碍事。
But, it's important to remember that ignorance is bliss, and jellies are pretty blissful creatures.
但无知便是福,水母是相当快乐的生物。
They lack a brain, a true central nervous system, and the pain receptors that would make this kind of experiment uncomfortable for other animals.
它们没有大脑,没有真正的中枢神经系统,也没有痛觉感受器,这种感受器让其他动物在进行这种实验的时候感到不适。
Plus, moon jellies produce mucus when stressed, and the researchers didn't see any of that during testing.
此外,海月水母在感到压力时会产生粘液,而研究人员在进行测试中,没有看见它们产出粘液。
So the animals didn't seem to be upset. What they did see were supercharged jellies.
所以这种动物似乎并不难受。他们看到的是超动力水母。
When the devices were turned on, the animals swam almost three times faster.
当设备开启时,这些动物的游泳速度几乎快了三倍。

水母机器人

And that speed increase was from mere 10 milliwatts of external power,

这种速度的增加仅来自于10毫瓦的外部功率,
since all the hard work is done by the jellies' muscles, and the energy to move those comes from the prey they eat.
因为所有的艰苦工作都是由水母的肌肉完成的,而移动这些肌肉的能量来自于它们所吃的猎物。
So, at the end of the day, this first model used less power per mass than any other aquatic robot currently available, up to a 1000 times less.
所以在最后,这第一款模型比目前任何其他水生机器人的每质量能耗更低,差距高达1000倍。
Jellybots have another advantage over traditional robots, too: they heal. At least, the jellyfish parts do.
水母机器人相比传统机器人还有另一个优势:它们的愈合能力。至少部分水母拥有这种能力。
So if one were to get damaged somehow, there's at least a chance it could fix itself.
如果一只水母受伤了,那么至少它还有自愈的机会。
Still, jellybots aren't quite ready for prime time, right now, the researchers can't actually steer them. Though, they're working on that.
目前水母机器人还没有为黄金时间做好准备,研究人员还无法真正的驾驭它们。不过,他们正在为此努力。
And future plans will also include modifications that will allow us to collect all sorts of information from them,
未来计划将包括一些修改,如可以让人类从它们身上收集各种信息,
creating a fleet of inexpensive, autonomous underwater vehicles.
创造一支物美价廉的自动水下航行器船队。
Attaching data loggers to larger marine animals has already helped researchers learn all sorts of things about the ocean.
在大型海洋动物身上安装数据记录器已经帮助研究人员了解海洋的各种情况。
So, one could envision a future where thousands or millions of jellybots are deployed in droves to track things like water temperature,
所以大家可以想象未来,成千上万的水母机器人成群结队地部署在海底,追踪水温、
salinity and pH, data which can tell researchers a lot about the ocean's health.
含盐度以及pH值,这些数据可以告诉研究人员海洋的健康状况。
And not only would these biohybrid robots further expand monitoring, they would do so fairly inexpensively,
而且,这些生物混合机器人不仅能进一步扩大监测范围,而且至少与现在的水下航行器相比,
at least, when compared to the underwater vehicles around today. Though, they might need to program some kind of defense system too.
它们的成本相当低廉。虽然它们可能也需要设计某种防御系统。
After all, you would not want all your jellybots to end up monitoring the inside of leatherback sea turtles instead of the ocean!
毕竟,你不会希望所有的水母机器人最终监视的是菱皮龟的内部,而不是海洋!
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow! If you liked learning about these weird robots,
感谢收看本期节目!如果你想了解这些奇怪的机器人,
you probably will love our weekly podcast, SciShow Tangents.
你或许会喜欢我们每周播客《SciShow Tangents》。
It's produced by Complexly and WNYC Studios and it's made by the same people who bring you SciShow!
该节目由Complexly和WNYC Studios共同制作,由原班人马共同呈现!
Well, some of the people, like me. We did a whole episode on robots that I think you will enjoy!
一些原班人马,比如在下。我们做了一整集关于机器人的节目,我想你会喜欢的!
You can find it by clicking the link in the description or searching for SciShow Tangents on the podcast platform you prefer most.
你可以点击下方的链接,或者可以在播客平台上搜索《SciShow Tangents》。

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