WEBVTT 00:00:01.333 --> 00:00:02.809 Food delivery. 00:00:02.833 --> 00:00:05.809 It's the thing that saves millennials from starvation. 00:00:06.770 --> 00:00:08.188 By my calculations, 00:00:08.212 --> 00:00:11.950 Americans order over 20 million restaurant deliveries 00:00:11.974 --> 00:00:13.640 every single day. 00:00:14.022 --> 00:00:17.458 Over half of these deliveries are actually within walking distance. 00:00:17.482 --> 00:00:21.233 But nine out of 10 are delivered in cars. 00:00:21.607 --> 00:00:23.933 So basically, 00:00:23.957 --> 00:00:25.861 we are moving a two-pound burrito 00:00:25.885 --> 00:00:27.655 in a two-ton car 00:00:27.679 --> 00:00:29.914 20 million times a day. 00:00:29.938 --> 00:00:32.072 The energy to bring you that burrito 00:00:32.096 --> 00:00:34.850 is actually bringing you a two-ton metal cage 00:00:34.874 --> 00:00:36.263 with heated seats. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:36.287 --> 00:00:37.609 Let's be honest. 00:00:37.633 --> 00:00:39.633 We are addicted to our cars. 00:00:40.085 --> 00:00:41.935 Did you know that in America, 00:00:41.959 --> 00:00:45.434 for every car, there are four parking spots? 00:00:45.458 --> 00:00:46.831 In some downtowns, 00:00:46.855 --> 00:00:49.942 over half of the real estate is for cars. 00:00:50.427 --> 00:00:53.401 We have designed our cities around our cars, 00:00:53.425 --> 00:00:56.290 because we drive whether we're going two miles 00:00:56.314 --> 00:00:57.861 or 200 miles. 00:00:57.885 --> 00:01:00.290 Solo, or with our whole family. 00:01:00.688 --> 00:01:05.600 We get into the same SUV to go buy coffee or a coffee table. 00:01:06.019 --> 00:01:08.796 If we could free up some of these streets and parking lots, 00:01:08.820 --> 00:01:10.201 we could build more housing, 00:01:10.225 --> 00:01:12.328 more social spaces, more parks. 00:01:12.661 --> 00:01:14.014 But to do that, 00:01:14.038 --> 00:01:17.942 first, we need to rethink how we are using cars today. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:17.966 --> 00:01:19.395 In the city of the future, 00:01:19.419 --> 00:01:23.065 if you want to go five blocks, you summon a bike or a scooter. 00:01:23.089 --> 00:01:26.376 If you're in a rush, a passenger drone would pick you up. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:29.661 And if you need food, no need to have someone drive over -- 00:01:29.685 --> 00:01:32.271 the food will make its way to you. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:32.295 --> 00:01:35.959 Let's go back to those 20 million a day restaurant deliveries. 00:01:36.341 --> 00:01:39.150 If we could get these deliveries off the road, 00:01:39.174 --> 00:01:40.609 we could reduce the need 00:01:40.633 --> 00:01:45.363 for as many as one and a half million cars just in the US. 00:01:45.387 --> 00:01:47.833 That's twice the size of San Francisco. 00:01:48.171 --> 00:01:52.091 Now, think of the impact this could have on cities like Delhi, 00:01:52.115 --> 00:01:54.545 or my birth city of Tehran, 00:01:54.569 --> 00:01:58.053 where car pollution is killing thousands of people every year. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:58.546 --> 00:02:03.455 So how do we get some of these deliveries off the road? 00:02:04.661 --> 00:02:06.391 Well, that's the question 00:02:06.415 --> 00:02:09.913 that my team and I have been obsessed with over the last three years. 00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:13.475 And the solution is actually one of the building blocks 00:02:13.499 --> 00:02:15.341 of the city of the future. 00:02:15.944 --> 00:02:20.155 We've been creating small, self-driving robots 00:02:20.179 --> 00:02:22.806 that navigate quiet alleys and sidewalks 00:02:22.830 --> 00:02:24.512 on a walking pace 00:02:24.536 --> 00:02:28.106 and have a secured cargo to deliver you food and supplies. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:28.130 --> 00:02:31.304 Now, before I tell you more about the robots, 00:02:31.328 --> 00:02:33.328 let's do a quick thought experiment. 00:02:33.947 --> 00:02:38.372 In your mind, picture a city with thousands of robots. 00:02:39.007 --> 00:02:40.341 Is it this one? 00:02:40.761 --> 00:02:44.601 This Hollywood dystopia is what a lot of people expect. 00:02:44.625 --> 00:02:50.307 But our job is to create a friendly future that's designed for people. 00:02:50.331 --> 00:02:53.298 So instead of making aliens, 00:02:53.322 --> 00:02:57.004 we set out to create robots that are familiar. 00:02:57.361 --> 00:03:00.100 Robots that would belong in our communities. 00:03:00.665 --> 00:03:02.720 But we also wanted a little surprise. 00:03:02.744 --> 00:03:05.505 Something unexpectedly delightful. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:05.815 --> 00:03:06.974 Think about it. 00:03:06.998 --> 00:03:08.481 You're walking down the street, 00:03:08.505 --> 00:03:10.710 and you see your very first robot. 00:03:10.734 --> 00:03:13.052 That's the moment when you're going to decide 00:03:13.076 --> 00:03:15.861 if this is a future you love or fear. 00:03:16.861 --> 00:03:20.137 And with a lot of people having these dystopian ideas, 00:03:20.161 --> 00:03:22.383 we need to open their minds. 00:03:22.407 --> 00:03:24.772 We want to surprise and delight them, 00:03:24.796 --> 00:03:27.952 so that we can win them over on first impression. 00:03:27.976 --> 00:03:29.380 This is what we came up with. 00:03:29.404 --> 00:03:32.174 It's familiar, but it's also surprising. 00:03:32.555 --> 00:03:34.483 It's just a shopping cart, 00:03:34.507 --> 00:03:38.267 but it also looks like we crossbred WALL-E with Minions. 00:03:39.004 --> 00:03:41.853 If you live in San Francisco or Los Angeles, 00:03:41.877 --> 00:03:44.933 chances are one of these has already delivered your food. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:45.482 --> 00:03:48.244 As soon as we put robots out on the street, 00:03:48.268 --> 00:03:50.415 we learned some really interesting problems. 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.400 Like, how should robots cross the road? 00:03:53.704 --> 00:03:59.330 Or how should robots interact with people with visual or mobility impairments? 00:04:00.149 --> 00:04:03.805 We quickly realized that we need to teach our robots 00:04:03.829 --> 00:04:06.099 how to communicate with people. 00:04:06.877 --> 00:04:09.718 People on the sidewalk come from every walk of life, 00:04:09.742 --> 00:04:12.960 so we needed to create a new language, 00:04:12.984 --> 00:04:14.729 kind of a universal language 00:04:14.753 --> 00:04:17.864 so people and robots can understand each other 00:04:17.888 --> 00:04:19.253 right off the bat. 00:04:19.277 --> 00:04:22.345 Because no one is going to be reading user manuals. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:23.719 --> 00:04:27.441 We started with eyes, because eyes are universal. 00:04:27.465 --> 00:04:29.403 They can show where the robot is going 00:04:29.427 --> 00:04:31.513 or if it's confused. 00:04:31.537 --> 00:04:34.378 Plus, eyes make robots more human. 00:04:34.871 --> 00:04:37.045 We also used sounds. 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:39.534 For example, we created this running sound 00:04:39.558 --> 00:04:41.379 with frequent gaps 00:04:41.403 --> 00:04:45.268 so that people with visual impairments could locate their robots 00:04:45.292 --> 00:04:47.244 using the Doppler effect. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:47.268 --> 00:04:50.061 But it turned out these were not enough. 00:04:50.085 --> 00:04:51.299 At intersections, 00:04:51.323 --> 00:04:53.323 cars would cut in front of our robots. 00:04:53.347 --> 00:04:55.863 Drivers were getting confused sometimes, 00:04:55.887 --> 00:04:59.931 because robots would take too long before they started crossing. 00:05:00.630 --> 00:05:03.467 Even ordinary pedestrians were getting confused. 00:05:03.796 --> 00:05:07.188 Sometimes, they couldn't figure out on which side to pass the robots, 00:05:07.212 --> 00:05:10.640 because robots make a lot of small adjustments to their direction 00:05:10.664 --> 00:05:11.836 as they move. 00:05:11.860 --> 00:05:14.312 This actually sparked a new idea. 00:05:14.625 --> 00:05:18.669 What if we used movement to create a universal language? 00:05:19.106 --> 00:05:20.772 Like, at intersections, 00:05:20.796 --> 00:05:24.201 robots would gently move forward before they start crossing, 00:05:24.225 --> 00:05:26.820 to signal to drivers that it's their turn. 00:05:27.928 --> 00:05:29.864 If they see someone in a wheelchair, 00:05:29.888 --> 00:05:33.982 they yield by pointing themselves away from the sidewalk, 00:05:34.006 --> 00:05:36.299 to signal that they're not going to move. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:37.704 --> 00:05:39.371 Some of you may remember this. 00:05:39.395 --> 00:05:44.833 In 2015, Canadian researchers sent a robot hitchhiking across the US. 00:05:45.677 --> 00:05:47.304 It didn't get very far. 00:05:47.328 --> 00:05:51.360 It turns out that robots can also use some social skills. 00:05:51.384 --> 00:05:53.498 Like, if they're being tampered with, 00:05:53.522 --> 00:05:58.934 Carnegie Mellon researchers have shown that small toy robots should play dead, 00:05:58.958 --> 00:06:01.800 because people feel bad when they think they broke it. 00:06:02.474 --> 00:06:04.490 But delivery robots aren't toys, 00:06:04.514 --> 00:06:07.069 they're not small, they are out there in public. 00:06:07.394 --> 00:06:10.371 We found that with delivery robots, 00:06:10.395 --> 00:06:12.331 to get people to stop tampering, 00:06:12.355 --> 00:06:14.355 robots need to show awareness. 00:06:14.950 --> 00:06:17.410 It's kind of the opposite of playing dead. 00:06:17.792 --> 00:06:18.991 In this case, 00:06:19.015 --> 00:06:21.656 robots need to acknowledge the situation 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:23.680 to get people to step away. 00:06:24.546 --> 00:06:25.991 Also, a word of advice. 00:06:26.015 --> 00:06:28.910 If you are a robot and you see small kids, 00:06:28.934 --> 00:06:30.934 run towards the closest adult. 00:06:31.315 --> 00:06:35.066 It turns out that some kids just love harassing robots. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:35.455 --> 00:06:38.010 So besides dystopia, 00:06:38.034 --> 00:06:41.098 Hollywood also promised us some really cool robots 00:06:41.122 --> 00:06:43.983 that would run our errands or keep us company. 00:06:44.007 --> 00:06:46.880 So far, we've really focused on food delivery, 00:06:46.904 --> 00:06:48.555 but in the future, 00:06:48.579 --> 00:06:50.537 these robots can do more. 00:06:50.561 --> 00:06:55.252 Like, they could gather excess food and bring it to shelters every night. 00:06:55.593 --> 00:06:59.593 Because in America, we waste 30 percent of our food, 00:06:59.617 --> 00:07:03.145 while 10 percent of our people experience food insecurity. 00:07:03.169 --> 00:07:05.169 These robots could be part of the solution. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:06.003 --> 00:07:10.018 Or when we have hundreds of robots running around cities, 00:07:10.042 --> 00:07:14.285 we could have robots carry emergency medications at all times, 00:07:14.309 --> 00:07:17.539 just in case someone nearby has an allergic reaction 00:07:17.563 --> 00:07:19.071 or an asthma attack. 00:07:19.095 --> 00:07:22.291 These robots could be on-site within a minute or two, 00:07:22.315 --> 00:07:23.838 faster than anyone else. 00:07:23.862 --> 00:07:25.498 And during pandemics, 00:07:25.522 --> 00:07:28.005 robots can be a key part of our infrastructure. 00:07:28.458 --> 00:07:29.807 They can ensure 00:07:29.831 --> 00:07:33.418 that we can provide our communities with the essential needs 00:07:33.442 --> 00:07:35.069 even during emergencies. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:35.093 --> 00:07:37.616 Let me leave you with one last thought. 00:07:38.331 --> 00:07:43.631 Today, objects can't get from A to B without human help, 00:07:43.655 --> 00:07:47.329 because our three-dimensional world is quite complex. 00:07:47.814 --> 00:07:51.532 But new sensors and AI can change that. 00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:54.826 In a way, technology is like a baby 00:07:54.850 --> 00:07:59.260 that has just learned to recognize objects and understand words, 00:07:59.284 --> 00:08:02.156 and maybe even hold a basic conversation, 00:08:02.180 --> 00:08:04.180 but it hasn't learned to walk yet. 00:08:04.934 --> 00:08:07.498 Now, we are teaching technology 00:08:07.522 --> 00:08:09.806 how to navigate the three-dimensional world 00:08:09.830 --> 00:08:11.292 without our help. 00:08:12.585 --> 00:08:14.664 We are entering this new era 00:08:14.688 --> 00:08:19.315 where insentient objects are going to get up and move freely. 00:08:20.305 --> 00:08:21.791 And when they do, 00:08:21.815 --> 00:08:24.473 we've got to make sure they don't look like aliens. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:24.497 --> 00:08:29.236 My vision for the future is that when things come to life, 00:08:29.260 --> 00:08:30.720 they do so with joy. 00:08:31.053 --> 00:08:34.095 You know, less like the movie "Terminator" 00:08:34.119 --> 00:08:35.786 and more like "Toy Story." NOTE Paragraph 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:37.373 Thank you.