Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future
-
0:01 - 0:03What started as a platform for hobbyists
-
0:03 - 0:06is poised to become
a multibillion-dollar industry. -
0:06 - 0:10Inspection, environmental monitoring,
photography and film and journalism: -
0:10 - 0:13these are some of the potential
applications for commercial drones, -
0:13 - 0:16and their enablers
are the capabilities being developed -
0:16 - 0:18at research facilities around the world.
-
0:18 - 0:20For example, before aerial
package delivery -
0:20 - 0:22entered our social consciousness,
-
0:22 - 0:26an autonomous fleet of flying machines
built a six-meter-tall tower -
0:26 - 0:28composed of 1,500 bricks
-
0:28 - 0:31in front of a live audience
at the FRAC Centre in France, -
0:31 - 0:34and several years ago,
they started to fly with ropes. -
0:34 - 0:35By tethering flying machines,
-
0:35 - 0:39they can achieve high speeds
and accelerations in very tight spaces. -
0:39 - 0:42They can also autonomously build
tensile structures. -
0:42 - 0:45Skills learned include how to carry loads,
-
0:45 - 0:46how to cope with disturbances,
-
0:46 - 0:49and in general, how to interact
with the physical world. -
0:49 - 0:52Today we want to show you some
new projects that we've been working on. -
0:53 - 0:55Their aim is to push the boundary
of what can be achieved -
0:55 - 0:57with autonomous flight.
-
0:57 - 0:59Now, for a system to function
autonomously, -
1:00 - 1:04it must collectively know the location
of its mobile objects in space. -
1:04 - 1:06Back at our lab at ETH Zurich,
-
1:06 - 1:09we often use external cameras
to locate objects, -
1:09 - 1:11which then allows us to focus our efforts
-
1:11 - 1:13on the rapid development
of highly dynamic tasks. -
1:13 - 1:16For the demos you will see today, however,
-
1:16 - 1:19we will use new localization technology
developed by Verity Studios, -
1:19 - 1:20a spin-off from our lab.
-
1:21 - 1:22There are no external cameras.
-
1:22 - 1:27Each flying machine uses onboard sensors
to determine its location in space -
1:27 - 1:31and onboard computation
to determine what its actions should be. -
1:31 - 1:33The only external commands
are high-level ones -
1:33 - 1:35such as "take off" and "land."
-
1:59 - 2:00This is a so-called tail-sitter.
-
2:00 - 2:04It's an aircraft that tries
to have its cake and eat it. -
2:04 - 2:07Like other fixed-wing aircraft,
it is efficient in forward flight, -
2:07 - 2:10much more so than helicopters
and variations thereof. -
2:10 - 2:13Unlike most other
fixed-wing aircraft, however, -
2:13 - 2:14it is capable of hovering,
-
2:14 - 2:18which has huge advantages
for takeoff, landing -
2:18 - 2:19and general versatility.
-
2:19 - 2:22There is no free lunch, unfortunately.
-
2:22 - 2:24One of the limitations with tail-sitters
-
2:24 - 2:27is that they're susceptible
to disturbances such as wind gusts. -
2:27 - 2:29We're developing new control
architectures and algorithms -
2:29 - 2:31that address this limitation.
-
2:39 - 2:41The idea is for the aircraft to recover
-
2:41 - 2:43no matter what state it finds itself in,
-
2:51 - 2:54and through practice,
improve its performance over time. -
3:04 - 3:08(Applause)
-
3:10 - 3:11OK.
-
3:21 - 3:23When doing research,
-
3:23 - 3:26we often ask ourselves
fundamental abstract questions -
3:26 - 3:28that try to get at the heart of a matter.
-
3:29 - 3:31For example, one such question would be,
-
3:31 - 3:35what is the minimum number of moving parts
needed for controlled flight? -
3:36 - 3:37Now, there are practical reasons
-
3:37 - 3:40why you may want to know
the answer to such a question. -
3:40 - 3:41Helicopters, for example,
-
3:41 - 3:45are affectionately known
as machines with a thousand moving parts -
3:45 - 3:48all conspiring to do you bodily harm.
-
3:49 - 3:50It turns out that decades ago,
-
3:51 - 3:54skilled pilots were able to fly
remote-controlled aircraft -
3:54 - 3:56that had only two moving parts:
-
3:56 - 3:57a propeller and a tail rudder.
-
3:58 - 4:01We recently discovered
that it could be done with just one. -
4:02 - 4:03This is the monospinner,
-
4:03 - 4:06the world's mechanically simplest
controllable flying machine, -
4:06 - 4:08invented just a few months ago.
-
4:08 - 4:11It has only one moving part, a propeller.
-
4:11 - 4:15It has no flaps, no hinges, no ailerons,
-
4:15 - 4:17no other actuators,
no other control surfaces, -
4:17 - 4:19just a simple propeller.
-
4:19 - 4:21Even though it's mechanically simple,
-
4:21 - 4:24there's a lot going on
in its little electronic brain -
4:24 - 4:28to allow it to fly in a stable fashion
and to move anywhere it wants in space. -
4:28 - 4:30Even so, it doesn't yet have
-
4:30 - 4:32the sophisticated algorithms
of the tail-sitter, -
4:32 - 4:34which means that in order
to get it to fly, -
4:34 - 4:36I have to throw it just right.
-
4:37 - 4:41And because the probability
of me throwing it just right is very low, -
4:41 - 4:43given everybody watching me,
-
4:43 - 4:44what we're going to do instead
-
4:44 - 4:46is show you a video
that we shot last night. -
4:46 - 4:48(Laughter)
-
4:58 - 5:02(Applause)
-
5:11 - 5:15If the monospinner
is an exercise in frugality, -
5:15 - 5:18this machine here, the omnicopter,
with its eight propellers, -
5:18 - 5:20is an exercise in excess.
-
5:21 - 5:23What can you do with all this surplus?
-
5:23 - 5:25The thing to notice
is that it is highly symmetric. -
5:26 - 5:29As a result, it is ambivalent
to orientation. -
5:29 - 5:31This gives it an extraordinary capability.
-
5:32 - 5:34It can move anywhere it wants in space
-
5:34 - 5:36irrespective of where it is facing
-
5:37 - 5:38and even of how it is rotating.
-
5:39 - 5:40It has its own complexities,
-
5:40 - 5:43mainly having to do
with the interacting flows -
5:43 - 5:44from its eight propellers.
-
5:45 - 5:49Some of this can be modeled,
while the rest can be learned on the fly. -
5:49 - 5:50Let's take a look.
-
6:33 - 6:37(Applause)
-
6:41 - 6:44If flying machines are going
to enter part of our daily lives, -
6:44 - 6:46they will need to become
extremely safe and reliable. -
6:47 - 6:48This machine over here
-
6:48 - 6:51is actually two separate
two-propeller flying machines. -
6:51 - 6:53This one wants to spin clockwise.
-
6:53 - 6:56This other one wants
to spin counterclockwise. -
6:56 - 6:57When you put them together,
-
6:57 - 7:00they behave like one
high-performance quadrocopter. -
7:12 - 7:13If anything goes wrong, however --
-
7:13 - 7:18a motor fails, a propeller fails,
electronics, even a battery pack -- -
7:18 - 7:21the machine can still fly,
albeit in a degraded fashion. -
7:21 - 7:25We're going to demonstrate this to you now
by disabling one of its halves. -
7:44 - 7:47(Applause)
-
7:51 - 7:53This last demonstration
-
7:53 - 7:55is an exploration of synthetic swarms.
-
7:56 - 7:59The large number of autonomous,
coordinated entities -
7:59 - 8:01offers a new palette
for aesthetic expression. -
8:01 - 8:04We've taken commercially available
micro quadcopters, -
8:04 - 8:07each weighing less
than a slice of bread, by the way, -
8:07 - 8:09and outfitted them
with our localization technology -
8:09 - 8:11and custom algorithms.
-
8:11 - 8:13Because each unit
knows where it is in space -
8:13 - 8:14and is self-controlled,
-
8:14 - 8:17there is really no limit to their number.
-
8:44 - 8:47(Applause)
-
9:07 - 9:12(Applause)
-
10:06 - 10:10(Applause)
-
10:24 - 10:27Hopefully, these demonstrations
will motivate you to dream up -
10:27 - 10:29new revolutionary roles
for flying machines. -
10:31 - 10:33That ultrasafe one over there for example
-
10:33 - 10:36has aspirations to become
a flying lampshade on Broadway. -
10:36 - 10:38(Laughter)
-
10:38 - 10:40The reality is that it is
difficult to predict -
10:40 - 10:42the impact of nascent technology.
-
10:42 - 10:47And for folks like us, the real reward
is the journey and the act of creation. -
10:47 - 10:48It's a continual reminder
-
10:48 - 10:51of how wonderful and magical
the universe we live in is, -
10:52 - 10:55that it allows creative, clever creatures
-
10:55 - 10:57to sculpt it in such spectacular ways.
-
10:58 - 11:00The fact that this technology
-
11:00 - 11:03has such huge commercial
and economic potential -
11:03 - 11:04is just icing on the cake.
-
11:04 - 11:06Thank you.
-
11:06 - 11:09(Applause)
- Title:
- Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future
- Speaker:
- Raffaello D'Andrea
- Description:
-
When you hear the word "drone," you probably think of something either very useful or very scary. But could they have aesthetic value? Autonomous systems expert Raffaello D'Andrea develops flying machines, and his latest projects are pushing the boundaries of autonomous flight — from a flying wing that can hover and recover from disturbance to an eight-propeller craft that's ambivalent to orientation ... to a swarm of tiny coordinated micro-quadcopters. Prepare to be dazzled by a dreamy, swirling array of flying machines as they dance like fireflies above the TED stage.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:35
Brian Greene approved English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for Meet the dazzling flying machines of the future |