What started as a platform for hobbyists is poised to become a multibillion-dollar industry.
我们从一个爱好者的平台开始，逐渐发展成数十亿美元的产业。
Inspection, environmental monitoring, photography and film and journalism:
侦查、环境监控、摄影、电影，还有新闻业：
these are some of the potential applications for commercial drones,
这些是无人机商业化的一些潜在应用，
and their enablers are the capabilities being developed at research facilities around the world.
它们的推动力来自世界各地的研究机构正在开发的各种功能。
For example, before aerial package delivery entered our social consciousness,
举个例子，在航空包裹递送进入我们的社会认知之前，
an autonomous fleet of flying machines built a six-meter-tall tower composed of 1,500 bricks
一个自动化的飞行器小队就曾用1500块砖块建了6米高的塔，
in front of a live audience at the FRAC Centre in France,
这发生在法国的FRAC中心，就在现场观众面前。
and several years ago, they started to fly with ropes.
几年前它们开始带着绳索飞行。
By tethering flying machines, they can achieve high speeds and accelerations in very tight spaces.
用绳子系住这些飞行器，可以让它们在极窄的空间里实现极快的速度和加速。
They can also autonomously build tensile structures.
它们还可以自动地建构可伸长的结构。
Skills learned include how to carry loads, how to cope with disturbances,
它们学会到如何装载，如何应对障碍物，
and in general, how to interact with the physical world.
以及概括地说，如何与这个物理世界相互作用等等的技巧。
Today we want to show you some new projects that we've been working on.
今天我想展示几个我们正在进行的新项目。
Their aim is to push the boundary of what can be achieved with autonomous flight.
它们的目标是尽所能地扩展自动化飞行领域的应用范围。
Now, for a system to function autonomously, it must collectively know the location of its mobile objects in space.
现在，对于一个拥有自动化功能的系统，它必须全面地了解它的移动物体在空间中的位置。
Back at our lab at ETH Zurich, we often use external cameras to locate objects,
回到我们在苏黎世联邦理工学院的实验室，我们经常用外部的摄像头去定位目标，
which then allows us to focus our efforts on the rapid development of highly dynamic tasks.
它可以让我们将精力专注于高动态任务的快速开发上。
For the demos you will see today, however, we will use new localization technology developed by Verity Studios,
但对于你们今天要看到的演示来说，我们打算采用由“真实工作室”开发的新的定位技术，
a spin-off from our lab. There are no external cameras.
它是我们实验室的一个分支机构。它们外面没有摄像头，
Each flying machine uses onboard sensors to determine its location in space
每个飞行器用机载传感器来确定它在空间当中的位置，
and onboard computation to determine what its actions should be.
并通过机载计算来决定它需要进行的行动。
The only external commands are high-level ones such as "take off" and "land."
唯一的外部命令都是高级命令，比如“起飞”或者“着陆”。
This is a so-called tail-sitter. It's an aircraft that tries to have its cake and eat it.
这就是所谓的立式垂直起落机。它就好像是一个什么都想实现的飞机器。
Like other fixed-wing aircraft, it is efficient in forward flight, much more so than helicopters and variations thereof.
和其他固定机翼的飞行器一样，它向前飞行的效率更高，要比直升飞机和其变种强得多，
Unlike most other fixed-wing aircraft, however, it is capable of hovering,
但又不像其他固定机翼的飞行器，它能够悬停，
which has huge advantages for takeoff, landing and general versatility. There is no free lunch, unfortunately.
这让它在起飞、着陆和常见的动作上拥有巨大的优势。可惜世界上没有免费的午餐。
One of the limitations with tail-sitters is that they're susceptible to disturbances such as wind gusts.
一个限制因素就是它们容易受到干扰，比如风吹。
We're developing new control architectures and algorithms that address this limitation.
我们正在开发新的控制架构和算法来打破这个限制。
The idea is for the aircraft to recover no matter what state it finds itself in,
我们的想法是让飞行器无论如何都能恢复初始状态，
and through practice, improve its performance over time. OK.
并且通过练习，还能逐渐提升性能。好的。

When doing research, we often ask ourselves fundamental abstract questions that try to get at the heart of a matter.
在做研究的时候，我们会问自己一些基本的抽象问题，试图了解问题的关键。
For example, one such question would be, what is the minimum number of moving parts needed for controlled flight?
举个例子，一个问题可能是，受控飞行所需的最小组件数量是多少？
Now, there are practical reasons why you may want to know the answer to such a question.
现在也有一些现实的原因让你想知道这类问题的答案。
Helicopters, for example, are affectionately known as machines with a thousand moving parts all conspiring to do you bodily harm.
举个例子，直升机，人们根深蒂固地认为它有数千个零部件组成，这些部件都“处心积虑地”想要对你的身体造成伤害。
It turns out that decades ago, skilled pilots were able to fly remote-controlled aircraft that had only two moving parts:
事实证明数十年以前，有经验的飞行员就已经可以操控遥控飞机了，这些飞机只有两个活动部件：
a propeller and a tail rudder. We recently discovered that it could be done with just one.
螺旋桨和尾翼。我们最近发现活动部件只要一个就够了。
This is the monospinner, the world's mechanically simplest controllable flying machine, invented just a few months ago.
这就是单螺旋机，世界上机械结构最简单的可控飞行器，几个月前才被发明出来。
It has only one moving part, a propeller.
它只有一个活动部件，即螺旋桨。
It has no flaps, no hinges, no ailerons, no other actuators, no other control surfaces, just a simple propeller.
它没有襟翼、铰链和副翼，没有其他的制动器和控制面板，只有一个简单的螺旋桨。
Even though it's mechanically simple,
即使机械结构很简单，
there's a lot going on in its little electronic brain to allow it to fly in a stable fashion
它里面的微电脑却在不断让它能稳定飞行，
and to move anywhere it wants in space.
并到达任何想去的地方。
Even so, it doesn't yet have the sophisticated algorithms of the tail-sitter,
即便如此，它还没有立式起落机的复杂算法，
which means that in order to get it to fly, I have to throw it just right.
也就是说要让它飞的话，我要用正确的方式把它扔出去。
And because the probability of me throwing it just right is very low,
考虑到我正确扔出的概率非常低，
given everybody watching me, what we're going to do instead is show you a video that we shot last night.
毕竟大家都在看我，所以我们就展示一下我们昨天晚上拍摄的视频吧。
If the monospinner is an exercise in frugality,
如果说单螺旋机只是在做简单的运动，
this machine here, the omnicopter, with its eight propellers, is an exercise in excess.
那么这个机器，带有八个螺旋桨的全向直升机，肯定是在做超量的运动了。
What can you do with all this surplus? The thing to notice is that it is highly symmetric.
你可以用这些额外的功能做什么呢？要注意它是高度对称的。
As a result, it is ambivalent to orientation. This gives it an extraordinary capability.
因此，它完全不具有方向性。这给了它一个不同寻常的能力。
It can move anywhere it wants in space irrespective of where it is facing and even of how it is rotating.
它可以在空中随意移动而不用考虑它面对的方向，甚至不用考虑如何旋转。
It has its own complexities, mainly having to do with the interacting flows from its eight propellers.
它有它的复杂性，主要问题都和它的8个螺旋桨所产生的交互气流有关。
Some of this can be modeled, while the rest can be learned on the fly. Let's take a look.
有些问题可以通过建模解决，而剩下的可以在飞行中学习。我们来看一下。
If flying machines are going to enter part of our daily lives, they will need to become extremely safe and reliable.
如果飞行器要进入到我们的日常生活当中，它们就需要变得非常安全可靠。
This machine over here is actually two separate two-propeller flying machines.
我手中的这个机器实际上是两个独立的双螺旋桨飞行器。
This one wants to spin clockwise. This other one wants to spin counterclockwise.
这一个想要顺时针旋转。另一个想要逆时针旋转。
When you put them together, they behave like one high-performance quadrocopter.
当你把它们放在一起，它们运行起来就像一架高性能的四轴无人机。
If anything goes wrong, however -- a motor fails, a propeller fails, electronics, even a battery pack
可是如果发生了意外，电机故障，螺旋桨故障，电子组件，甚至电池组故障，
the machine can still fly, albeit in a degraded fashion.
这个机器依然能飞，尽管性能会有所下降。
We're going to demonstrate this to you now by disabling one of its halves.
现在我们将展示一下其中一半被禁用的情况。
This last demonstration is an exploration of synthetic swarms.
最后这个演示是关于协作机群的探索。
The large number of autonomous, coordinated entities offers a new palette for aesthetic expression.
大量自动化的协作实体机为美学表达提供了一个全新的器械平台。
We've taken commercially available micro quadcopters, each weighing less than a slice of bread, by the way,
我们已经将微四轴飞行器运用到商业中，顺便说下，每个都比一片面包还要轻，
and outfitted them with our localization technology and custom algorithms.
并且装备上了我们的定位技术和自定义算法。
Because each unit knows where it is in space and is self-controlled, there is really no limit to their number.
因为每个单元都知道自己在空间中所处的位置并能自我控制，所以无论多少个（同时运作）都可以。
Hopefully, these demonstrations will motivate you to dream up new revolutionary roles for flying machines.
希望这些展示能够启发你们想象出飞行器更多革命性的功能。
That ultrasafe one over there for example has aspirations to become a flying lampshade on Broadway.
我们以那个极其安全的飞行器为例，它渴望成为百老汇的一个飞行灯罩。
The reality is that it is difficult to predict the impact of nascent technology.
实际上我们很难预测这些新兴技术带给我们的影响。
And for folks like us, the real reward is the journey and the act of creation.
对于我们这样的人来说，真正的回报在于创造性的旅程和行动。
It's a continual reminder of how wonderful and magical the universe we live in is,
它不断提醒我们，我们生活的这个宇宙是多么精彩和神奇，
that it allows creative, clever creatures to sculpt it in such spectacular ways.
允许这些富有创造力的、聪明的生物用这样壮观的方式塑造它。
The fact that this technology has such huge commercial and economic potential is just icing on the cake. Thank you.
事实上，这个技术巨大的商业和经济潜能不过是一种锦上添花而已。谢谢。