Jonathan Rossiter: A robot that eats pollution
Jonathan Rossiter: Um robô que come poluição
Jonathan Rossiter develops soft robotic technologies and turns them into real robots and smart machines for engineers, musicians, doctors and artists. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
e faço robôs.
what a robot is, right?
o que é um robô, não sabem?
iriam ao Google,
and this is what we get.
lots of different types of robots,
muitos tipos diferentes de robôs,
humanoid in structure.
uma estrutura humanoide.
they've got metal,
and you could hug them.
e abraçá-los.
straight out of "Terminator,"
do "Exterminador Implacável",
straight out of "Terminator."
com estes robôs,
things with these robots --
at different kinds of robots --
para tipos diferentes de robôs,
from the things that don't look like us,
que não se parecem connosco,
really cool things that we can't,
que nós não conseguimos fazer
like moving around on the floor;
como mover-se no chão,
and they eat our crops;
characteristics in future robots
características nos futuros robôs
some really interesting problems?
problemas interessantes?
now in the environment
existentes hoje no ambiente
the skills and the technologies
as capacidades e as tecnologias
e das plantas.
to solve those problems.
resolver esses problemas.
at two environmental problems.
para dois problemas ambientais.
with the environment
with the pressure of population.
com a pressão da população.
of population around the world
to produce more and more crops.
são cada vez mais necessárias.
chemicals onto the land.
mais químicos na terra.
nitrates, pesticides --
that encourage the growth of the crops,
o crescimento das culturas.
if you put lots of fertilizer on the land,
muitos fertilizantes na terra,
para o lençol freático.
into lakes, into rivers
para rios e para o mar.
of these chemicals, these nitrates,
esses nitratos,
that will be affected by that --
serão afetados por isso,
it will mass produce.
reproduzem-se em massa.
and masses of new algae.
de novas algas.
when algae reproduces like this,
se reproduzem assim,
in the water can't survive.
não conseguem sobreviver.
that will eat the algae,
que coma essas algas,
e torne o ambiente seguro.
também é da nossa autoria,
of the engines that we use,
flush their oil tanks into the sea,
descarregam os tanques para o mar,
if we could treat that in some way
se conseguíssemos tratar disso
the oil fields have produced?
pelos campos petrolíferos?
you see the basking shark.
so you can swim with it,
por isso podemos nadar com ele,
collecting plankton.
vai digerindo a comida
in its body to keep moving.
para se movimentar.
that chugs through the water
que avance água fora
from other organisms.
noutros organismos.
of a water boatman,
de um inseto aquático
to push itself forward.
para avançar.
to make a new kind of robot.
para fazer um novo tipo de robô.
the water boatman as inspiration,
como inspiração,
com os robôs que vimos no início.
we saw right at the beginning.
os robôs não têm aquele aspeto,
robots don't look like that,
anything like the others.
com os outros.
at the components
e que o tornam especial.
like the parts of any organism.
de qualquer organismo.
those three components,
terá estes três componentes,
will have those three components,
terá estes três componentes.
de borracha macia,
it's got two mouths.
— tem duas bocas.
it's got a mouth and a derriere,
com o tubarão-elefante.
like that basking shark.
and we need to treat the pollution,
e de tratar a poluição,
called a microbial fuel cell.
uma pilha de combustível microbiano.
and I'll lift up the fuel cell.
e retirar a pilha de combustível.
a conventional power system,
de energia convencional,
um verdadeiro estômago,
in the form of pollution,
sob a forma de poluição
like a chemical fuel cell,
come across in school,
na escola ou na TV.
consomem hidrogénio e oxigénio
take hydrogen and oxygen,
and you get electricity.
gerando eletricidade.
it was in the Apollo space missions.
foi usada nas missões espaciais Apollo,
uma pilha de combustível microbiano.
hydrogen on the other,
there are living microbes.
há micróbios vivos.
the microbes will eat that food,
vão comer essa comida
the right kind of microbes,
to treat some of the pollution.
de combustível microbiano
spirits and crude oil.
how this stomach could be used
from the pollution.
a partir da poluição.
through the environment,
to move through the environment
para se mover no meio ambiente
when we run the Row-bot --
quando pomos o Robô-remo a funcionar.
hopefully you can see here
é a boca a abrir-se.
e a boca de trás
as the waste products go out.
e os desperdícios saírem.
para e fecha a boca
as quickly as possible.
tão depressa quanto possível.
of electricity per second.
pouca eletricidade por segundo.
quando é usado.
as much energy that that uses
mais energia, quando é usado,
de combustível microbiano.
has done its digestion,
until it has consumed all that food.
até ter consumido a comida toda.
it could take some days.
pode levar dias.
looks like this:
é assim:
à espera.
doing the same thing again.
like a real organism, doesn't it?
saímos, abrimos a boca,
we go out, open our mouths,
e digerimos.
we do the same thing again.
voltamos a fazer o mesmo.
we'll have enough energy left over
teremos energia de sobra
por exemplo,
I've eaten recently,"
que comi recentemente"
that I've encountered,"
que encontrei"
saying, "This is where I am,"
a dizer: "É aqui que eu estou",
that we saw before,
que vimos há bocado,
is put your Row-bot out there,
como o que tenho aqui,
which themselves are not biodegradable.
que não são biodegradáveis.
things like toxic batteries.
contêm coisa como pilhas tóxicas.
their job of work,
de fazer o seu trabalho,
of Row-bots you can use.
de robôs que podemos usar.
like a biological organism,
com um organismo biológico,
made out of plastic,
feitos de plástico,
se biodegradassem?
in which we use robots.
out into the environment,
no meio ambiente,
termos de ir buscá-los,
into the environment.
de robôs no ambiente.
they're going to degrade to nothing.
iriam degradar-se.
in which you think about robots
como pensamos nos robôs
Poderemos fazer isso?
that you can do this.
que podemos fazer isso.
which are biodegradable.
que são biodegradáveis.
is you can use household materials
é que podemos usar materiais caseiros
you might be surprised.
podem ficar admirados,
a partir de gelatina.
which we have at the moment,
como o que têm neste momento,
called artificial muscles.
com músculos artificiais.
são materiais inteligentes,
or they bend or they twist.
you have these artificial muscles.
temos estes músculos artificiais.
artificial muscles out of jelly.
com gelatina.
e um pouco de prestidigitação
que podemos fazer o estômago
the microbial fuel cell's stomach
robot out of biodegradable materials.
com materiais biodegradáveis.
and they degrade to nothing.
in which we think about robots,
a forma como pensamos em robôs
to be really creative
sermos criativos
about what you can do with these robots.
no que podemos fazer com estes robôs.
para fazer um robô
he's not robotic, OK?
— não é robótico, temos que fingir.
is you put it in your mouth --
pomo-lo na boca
it's a robot, it may not like it.
É um robô, pode não gostar.
it moves, it thinks, it twists, it bends,
move-se, pensa, retorce-se, dobra-se,
into your intestines,
some ulcer or cancer,
uma úlcera ou um cancro,
something like that.
ou qualquer coisa assim.
it's done its job of work,
de fazer o seu trabalho,
no ambiente.
in which we think about robots.
como pensamos nos robôs.
at robots that would eat pollution,
robôs que comem a poluição,
at robots which we can eat.
robôs que nós podemos comer.
we can do with future robots.
que podemos fazer com robôs futuros.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Jonathan Rossiter - RoboticistJonathan Rossiter develops soft robotic technologies and turns them into real robots and smart machines for engineers, musicians, doctors and artists.
Why you should listen
Jonathan Rossiter is Professor of Robotics at University of Bristol, and heads the Soft Robotics Group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory. His group researches soft robotics: robots and machines that go beyond conventional rigid and motorized technologies into the world of smart materials, reactive polymers biomimetics and compliant structures. Because they're soft, these robots are inherently safe for interaction with the human body and with the natural environment. They can be used to deliver new healthcare treatments, wearable and assistance devices, and human-interface technologies. They wide impact from furniture to fashion and from space systems to environmental cleanup. They can even be made biodegradable and edible.
Currently a major focus of Rossiter's work is on the development of soft robotic replacement organs for cancer and trauma sufferers and on smart "trousers" to help older people stay mobile for longer.
Jonathan Rossiter | Speaker | TED.com