CNN新闻英语第 30 课：Cockroaches Robot 蟑螂机器人-2

CUTKOSKY 卡特卡斯基
It's going to need more censors, it's going to need more controls, it's going to need something approaching a primitive brain, oh, right. 它需要更多的感应器，需要更多的控制系统，需要接近类似初级人脑的东西，哦，是的。

HATTORI 哈托利
Bob Full got the idea of making insect-like robots while consulting for the animated movie A Bug's Life. He realized that the cockroaches' self-stabilizing leg structure was much simpler than traditional robotic designs. 鲍勃·富尔在为动画片《虫子的生活》作顾问时突发灵感想要制造类似昆虫的机器人。他发现，蟑螂的具有自我稳定功能的腿部结构比传统的机器人设计要简单得多。

FULL 富尔
Kind of like a spring suspension system in your car. Rather than the stiff metal element with a motor where you're calculating every instant each movement, that's not how animals move, and why should we make robots like that? 它类似于你车中的弹簧悬挂系统。对于那种带马达的硬梆梆的金属材料，你要考虑每个动作的每个瞬间，但那不是动物的运动方式，为什么我们要像那样造机器人呢？

HATTORI 哈托利
The researchers led collaborators at McGill and the University of Michigan to produce Rex (ph), a robot which maneuvers independently without a brain. 麦克吉尔实验室和密执安大学的研究人员合作开发机器人Rex(音)，它可以不用大脑就独立运动。

FULL 富尔
So it can go up to nearly three meters per second now as it scrambles over rough terrain, and it can do that without any sensing of the environment. It can't see anything, it can't feel anything, but yet it's able to negotiate these incredible obstacles. 因此它可以在翻越坎坷不平的地域时达到每秒3米的速度，而且不用管周围环境。它既没有视觉，也没有触觉，但是却能越过不可思议的障碍。

HATTORI 哈托利
Insects aren't the only source of inspiration. Full is also studying how geckos climb smooth surfaces. He says it's all in the hairs on its toes - two million of them, each with hundreds of tiny split ends. A molecular force called Vandervals (ph) makes the hair stick to almost anything. He foresees robots with gecko-like feet. 昆虫并不是激发灵感的惟一源泉。富尔还研究壁虎爬越光滑表面的技巧。他说，它的全部奥妙就在于足尖的200万根毫毛，每根毫毛末端都有上百个细小分叉。有一种分子力可以使毫毛紧紧附着于任何东西。他预见机器人将会有壁虎一样的脚。

FULL 富尔
And if it can grab on to anything, then it should be able to go up walls and on ceilings, and achieve this goal of being able to go anywhere. 如果它能够抠住任何东西，那么它应该能够上墙、悬在天花板上，能到任何地方去。

HATTORI 哈托利
Lizards and insects - even Full admits they're unlikely parents for a new generation of mechanical offspring. 富尔也承认，蜥蜴和昆虫未必就能成为新一代机械发明的原型。

FULL 富尔
The next time you look at a study and you think it's unusual or odd that someone's doing this, think twice. 下一次你看到一项研究，并觉得它非同寻常或者对他人的做法感到惊奇的时候，多想想。