A 3D-printed jumbo jet?
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0:00 - 0:02What do we know about the future?
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0:02 - 0:05Difficult question, simple answer: nothing.
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0:05 - 0:07We cannot predict the future.
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0:07 - 0:12We only can create a vision of the future, how it might be,
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0:12 - 0:15a vision which reveals disruptive ideas, which is inspiring,
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0:15 - 0:18and this is the most important reason
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0:18 - 0:21which breaks the chains of common thinking.
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0:21 - 0:22There are a lot of people
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0:22 - 0:24who created their own vision about the future,
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0:24 - 0:27for instance, this vision here from the early 20th century.
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0:27 - 0:32It says here that this is the ocean plane of the future.
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0:32 - 0:35It takes only one and a half days to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
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0:35 - 0:39Today, we know that this future vision didn't come true.
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0:39 - 0:42So this is our largest airplane which we have,
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0:42 - 0:44the Airbus A380, and it's quite huge,
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0:44 - 0:46so a lot of people fit in there
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0:46 - 0:48and it's technically completely different
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0:48 - 0:51than the vision I've shown to you.
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0:51 - 0:53I'm working in a team with Airbus,
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0:53 - 0:54and we have created our vision
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0:54 - 0:57about a more sustainable future of aviation.
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0:57 - 1:00So sustainability is quite important for us,
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1:00 - 1:01which should incorporate social
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1:01 - 1:04but as well as environmental and economic values.
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1:04 - 1:07So we have created a very disruptive structure
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1:07 - 1:11which mimics the design of bone, or a skeleton,
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1:11 - 1:13which occurs in nature.
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1:13 - 1:15So that's why it looks maybe a little bit weird,
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1:15 - 1:19especially to the people who deal with structures in general.
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1:19 - 1:21But at least it's just a kind of artwork
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1:21 - 1:26to explore our ideas about a different future.
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1:26 - 1:29What are the main customers of the future?
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1:29 - 1:30So, we have the old, we have the young,
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1:30 - 1:33we have the uprising power of women,
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1:33 - 1:37and there's one mega-trend which affects all of us.
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1:37 - 1:40These are the future anthropometrics.
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1:40 - 1:43So our children are getting larger, but at the same time
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1:43 - 1:46we are growing into different directions.
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1:46 - 1:51So what we need is space inside the aircraft,
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1:51 - 1:53inside a very dense area.
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1:53 - 1:55These people have different needs.
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1:55 - 1:59So we see a clear need of active health promotion,
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1:59 - 2:01especially in the case of the old people.
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2:01 - 2:03We want to be treated as individuals.
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2:03 - 2:09We like to be productive throughout the entire travel chain,
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2:09 - 2:11and what we are doing in the future is
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2:11 - 2:14we want to use the latest man-machine interface,
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2:14 - 2:19and we want to integrate this and show this in one product.
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2:19 - 2:22So we combined these needs with technology's themes.
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2:22 - 2:25So for instance, we are asking ourselves,
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2:25 - 2:27how can we create more light?
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2:27 - 2:29How can we bring more natural light into the airplane?
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2:29 - 2:33So this airplane has no windows anymore, for example.
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2:33 - 2:35What about the data and communication software
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2:35 - 2:37which we need in the future?
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2:37 - 2:40My belief is that the airplane of the future
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2:40 - 2:42will get its own consciousness.
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2:42 - 2:45It will be more like a living organism
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2:45 - 2:49than just a collection of very complex technology.
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2:49 - 2:51This will be very different in the future.
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2:51 - 2:53It will communicate directly
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2:53 - 2:56with the passenger in its environment.
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2:56 - 2:58And then we are talking also about materials,
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2:58 - 3:00synthetic biology, for example.
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3:00 - 3:03And my belief is that we will get more and more
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3:03 - 3:07new materials which we can put into structure later on,
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3:07 - 3:11because structure is one of the key issues in aircraft design.
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3:11 - 3:15So let's compare the old world with the new world.
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3:15 - 3:17I just want to show you here what we are doing today.
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3:17 - 3:21So this is a bracket of an A380 crew rest compartment.
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3:21 - 3:23It takes a lot of weight,
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3:23 - 3:26and it follows the classical design rules.
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3:26 - 3:29This here is an equal bracket for the same purpose.
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3:29 - 3:31It follows the design of bone.
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3:31 - 3:34The design process is completely different.
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3:34 - 3:37At the one hand, we have 1.2 kilos,
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3:37 - 3:39and at the other hand 0.6 kilos.
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3:39 - 3:42So this technology, 3D printing, and new design rules
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3:42 - 3:44really help us to reduce the weight,
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3:44 - 3:46which is the biggest issue in aircraft design,
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3:46 - 3:49because it's directly linked to greenhouse gas emissions.
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3:49 - 3:51Push this idea a little bit forward.
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3:51 - 3:56So how does nature build its components and structures?
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3:56 - 3:59So nature is very clever. It puts all the information
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3:59 - 4:02into these small building blocks, which we call DNA.
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4:02 - 4:04And nature builds large skeletons out of it.
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4:04 - 4:07So we see a bottom-up approach here,
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4:07 - 4:10because all the information, as I said, are inside the DNA.
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4:10 - 4:12And this is combined with a top-down approach,
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4:12 - 4:14because what we are doing in our daily life
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4:14 - 4:17is we train our muscles, we train our skeleton,
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4:17 - 4:19and it's getting stronger.
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4:19 - 4:22And the same approach can be applied to technology as well.
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4:22 - 4:26So our building block is carbon nanotubes, for example,
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4:26 - 4:30to create a large, rivet-less skeleton at the end of the day.
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4:30 - 4:33How this looks in particular, you can show it here.
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4:33 - 4:35So imagine you have carbon nanotubes growing
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4:35 - 4:37inside a 3D printer,
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4:37 - 4:40and they are embedded inside a matrix of plastic,
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4:40 - 4:43and follow the forces which occur in your component.
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4:43 - 4:45And you've got trillions of them.
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4:45 - 4:47So you really align them to wood,
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4:47 - 4:50and you take this wood and make morphological optimization,
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4:50 - 4:52so you make structures, sub-structures,
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4:52 - 4:56which allows you to transmit electrical energy or data.
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4:56 - 4:58And now we take this material, combine this
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4:58 - 4:59with a top-down approach,
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4:59 - 5:03and build bigger and bigger components.
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5:03 - 5:06So how might the airplane of the future look?
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5:06 - 5:08So we have very different seats which adapt
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5:08 - 5:10to the shape of the future passenger,
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5:10 - 5:12with the different anthropometrics.
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5:12 - 5:14We have social areas inside the aircraft
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5:14 - 5:17which might turn into a place
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5:17 - 5:19where you can play virtual golf.
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5:19 - 5:22And finally, this bionic structure,
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5:22 - 5:24which is covered by a transparent
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5:24 - 5:28biopolymer membrane, will really change radically
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5:28 - 5:30how we look at aircrafts in the future.
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5:30 - 5:32So as Jason Silva said,
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5:32 - 5:35if we can imagine it, why not make it so?
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5:35 - 5:36See you in the future. Thank you.
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5:36 - 5:41(Applause)
- Title:
- A 3D-printed jumbo jet?
- Speaker:
- Bastian Schaefer
- Description:
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Designer Bastian Schaefer shows off a speculative design for the future of jet planes, with a skeleton inspired by strong, flexible, natural forms and by the needs of the world's, ahem, growing population. Imagine an airplane that's full of light and space -- and built up from generative parts in a 3D printer.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 05:58
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