ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Skylar Tibbits - Inventor
Skylar Tibbits, a TED Fellow, is an artist and computational architect working on "smart" components that can assemble themselves.

Why you should listen

Can we create objects that assemble themselves -- that zip together like a strand of DNA or that have the ability for transformation embedded into them? These are the questions that Skylar Tibbits investigates in his Self-Assembly Lab at MIT, a cross-disciplinary research space where designers, scientists and engineers come together to find ways for disordered parts to become ordered structures. 

A trained architect, designer and computer scientist, Tibbits teaches design studios at MIT’s Department of Architecture and co-teaches the seminar “How to Make (Almost) Anything” at MIT’s Media Lab. Before that, he worked at a number of design offices including Zaha Hadid Architects, Asymptote Architecture, SKIII Space Variations and Point b Design. His work has been shown at the Guggenheim Museum and the Beijing Biennale. 

Tibbits has collaborated with a number of influential people over the years, including Neil Gershenfeld and The Center for Bits and Atoms, Erik and Marty Demaine at MIT, Adam Bly at SEED Media Group and Marc Fornes of THEVERYMANY. In 2007, he and Marc Fornes co-curated Scriptedbypurpose, the first exhibition focused exclusively on scripted processes within design. Also in 2007, he founded SJET, a multifaceted practice and research platform for experimental computation and design. SJET crosses disciplines from architecture and design, fabrication, computer science and robotics.

More profile about the speaker
Skylar Tibbits | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

Skylar Tibbits: Can we make things that make themselves?

Skylar Tibbits: egin al ditzakegu autoeraikitako objektuak?

Filmed:
1,072,366 views

MIT ikertzaileak, Skylar Tibbits-ek, autoeraikuntzan lan egiten du - zerbait eraiki beharrean (aulkia, zeru-harraskaria), autoeraikitako materialak sor ditzakegu, ia DNA-k egiten duen moduan. Oso kontzeptu aurreratua oraindik lehenengo urratsetan. Tibbits-ek erakusten dizkigu hiru proiektu, zeintzuek aztarna batzuk ematen dizkiguten geroa nolakoa izango den jakiteko.
- Inventor
Skylar Tibbits, a TED Fellow, is an artist and computational architect working on "smart" components that can assemble themselves. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
Today I'd like to show you
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Gaur gustatuko litzaidake erakustea
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the future of the way we make things.
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objektuak eraikitako geroko era.
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I believe that soon our buildings and machines
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Nik uste dut laster gure eraikuntzak eta makineriak
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will be self-assembling,
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autoeraikituta izango direla.
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replicating and repairing themselves.
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haiek beraiek erreplikatzen eta konpontzen.
00:25
So I'm going to show you
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Beraz erakutsiko dizuet
00:27
what I believe is the current state of manufacturing,
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zein den, nire ustez, manufaktura-prozesuaren gaurko egoera.
00:29
and then compare that to some natural systems.
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eta gero sistema natural batzuekin konparatuko ditugu.
00:32
So in the current state of manufacturing, we have skyscrapers --
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Beraz gaurko manufaktura-prozesuan, zeru-harraskariak dauzkagu --
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two and a half years [of assembly time],
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bi urte eta erdia [eraikitzeko],
00:37
500,000 to a million parts,
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500.000-tik milioiera zatietako
00:39
fairly complex,
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nahiko konplexua,
00:41
new, exciting technologies in steel, concrete, glass.
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teknologia berriak eta sustagarriak altzairuan, hormigoian, beiran.
00:44
We have exciting machines
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Makineria sustagarriak dauzkagu
00:46
that can take us into space --
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haiek espaziora eramaten gaituzten --
00:48
five years [of assembly time], 2.5 million parts.
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bost urte [muntatzeko denbora], 2,5 milioi zati.
00:51
But on the other side, if you look at the natural systems,
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Baina, beste aldetik, sistema naturalak ikusten badituzue,
00:54
we have proteins
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Proteinak dauzkagu
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that have two million types,
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bi milioi motakoak,
00:58
can fold in 10,000 nanoseconds,
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muntatutako 10.000 nanosegundutan,
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or DNA with three billion base pairs
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edo DNA 3.000 milioi base-pare
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we can replicate in roughly an hour.
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haiek erreplika daitezke ordu batean soilik.
01:05
So there's all of this complexity
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Beraz hor dago konplexotasuna
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in our natural systems,
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gure sistema naturalena, hain zuzen ere,
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but they're extremely efficient,
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baina haiek benetan eraginkorrak.
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far more efficient than anything we can build,
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guk eraikitako baino askoz eraginkorragoak,
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far more complex than anything we can build.
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guk eraikitako baino askoz konplexuagoak.
01:15
They're far more efficient in terms of energy.
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Energia esparruan askoz erakingorragoak.
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They hardly ever make mistakes.
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Ia inoiz akatsak suertatzen dira.
01:20
And they can repair themselves for longevity.
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Eta euren buruari konpontzen diote luzaroan bizitzeko.
01:22
So there's something super interesting about natural systems.
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Beraz badago oso gauza interesgarria sistema naturaletan.
01:25
And if we can translate that
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Eta hori eramaten badugu
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into our built environment,
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gure eraikuntza esparrura,
01:29
then there's some exciting potential for the way that we build things.
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orduan badago izugarrizko potentzialitasuna eraikitzeko eran.
01:31
And I think the key to that is self-assembly.
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Eta nik uste dut autoeraikuntza dela gakoa.
01:34
So if we want to utilize self-assembly in our physical environment,
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Gure ingurugiroan autoeraikuntza erabili nahi badugu,
01:37
I think there's four key factors.
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Nik uste dut lau faktore gakok daudela.
01:39
The first is that we need to decode
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Lehenengoa da guk argitu behar dugula
01:41
all of the complexity of what we want to build --
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eraiki nahi dugun konplexutasuna --
01:43
so our buildings and machines.
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hots, gure eraikuntzak eta makineriak.
01:45
And we need to decode that into simple sequences --
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Eta sekuentzia sinple batzuekin argitu behar ditugu --
01:47
basically the DNA of how our buildings work.
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gure eraikuntzen funtzionamenduren DNA.
01:49
Then we need programmable parts
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Gero zati programagarriak behar ditugu
01:51
that can take that sequence
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horiek sekuentziak har ditzakete
01:53
and use that to fold up, or reconfigure.
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eta muntatzeko edo konfiguratzeko erabiltzea.
01:56
We need some energy that's going to allow that to activate,
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Energia pixka bat behar dugu prozesua martxan jartzeko,
01:59
allow our parts to be able to fold up from the program.
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eta horrek baimentzen ditu zatiak muntatzeko programatik hasita.
02:02
And we need some type of error correction redundancy
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Eta akats-zuzentzaile erredundanteren bat behar dugu
02:04
to guarantee that we have successfully built what we want.
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ziurtatzeko ea guk nahi dugun eraikuntza ondo egiten dugun.
02:07
So I'm going to show you a number of projects
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Beraz proiektu batzuk erakutsiko dizkizuet
02:09
that my colleagues and I at MIT are working on
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nire kideak eta biok MIT-en martxan jarri ditugunak
02:11
to achieve this self-assembling future.
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autoeraikuntzaren geroa lortzeko.
02:13
The first two are the MacroBot and DeciBot.
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Lehenengo biak MacroBot eta DeciBot dira.
02:16
So these projects are large-scale reconfigurable robots --
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Proeiktu horiek handiko robot berritxuragarriak dira --
02:20
8 ft., 12 ft. long proteins.
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2,5 mt, 3,7 mt, proteina handiak.
02:23
They're embedded with mechanical electrical devices, sensors.
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gailu mekanikoz, elektrikoz eta sentsorez beteta daude.
02:26
You decode what you want to fold up into,
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Batak, muntatu nahi duenak dekodifikatzen du,
02:28
into a sequence of angles --
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perspektiba batzuen sekuentzian --
02:30
so negative 120, negative 120, 0, 0,
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hemen ezeko 120, ezezko 120, 0, 0,
02:32
120, negative 120 -- something like that;
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120, ezezko 120 -- horrelako zerbait;
02:35
so a sequence of angles, or turns,
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badaude perspektiben sekuentzia bat, edo ikuspegiak,
02:37
and you send that sequence through the string.
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eta arduradunak bidaltzen du sekuentzia hori kablearen zehar.
02:40
Each unit takes its message -- so negative 120 --
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Unitate bakoitzak bere mezua hartzen du -- hemen ezezko 120 --
02:43
it rotates to that, checks if it got there
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berak biratzen du lerrokatzeko, eta helburura heltzen zen ala ez frogatzen du
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and then passes it to its neighbor.
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eta orduan bere auzokideari informazioa pasatzen du.
02:48
So these are the brilliant scientists,
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Hemen daude zientzilari distiratsuak,
02:50
engineers, designers that worked on this project.
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proiektu honetan lan egiten zuten ingeniariek, diseniatzaileek.
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And I think it really brings to light:
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Eta nik uste dut hark argitzen duena dela:
02:54
Is this really scalable?
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Hau egin al daiteke eskala handiko batean?
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I mean, thousands of dollars, lots of man hours
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Esan nahi dut, milaka dolar, ehundaka lanordu
02:58
made to make this eight-foot robot.
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2,5 metroko robot bat egiteko.
03:01
Can we really scale this up? Can we really embed robotics into every part?
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Egin al daiteke? Zati guztietan robotika sar dezakegu?
03:04
The next one questions that
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Hurrengo adibideak saiatzen du erantzuten
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and looks at passive nature,
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eta aztertu ezazu bere natura pasiboa,
03:08
or passively trying to have reconfiguration programmability.
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edo pasiboki saiatzen du programazio berritxugarria eskuratzen.
03:11
But it goes a step further,
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Baina urrutiko urratsa doa,
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and it tries to have actual computation.
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eta denbora errealean saiztzen du kalkulatzen.
03:15
It basically embeds the most fundamental building block of computing,
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Berak, funtsean, konputazio funtsezko blokeak sartzen ditu,
03:17
the digital logic gate,
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ate logiko digitalak,
03:19
directly into your parts.
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zatietan modu zuzenean.
03:21
So this is a NAND gate.
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Hau da NAND atea.
03:23
You have one tetrahedron which is the gate
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Tetaedroa daukagu, zein atea den
03:25
that's going to do your computing,
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eta prozesamendua egingo du,
03:27
and you have two input tetrahedrons.
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eta bi sartzeko tetaedro dauzkagu.
03:29
One of them is the input from the user, as you're building your bricks.
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Batak, erabiltzailearen sarrera du,blokeak muntatu ahala.
03:32
The other one is from the previous brick that was placed.
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Bestea, aurretik jarritako bloketik dator.
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And then it gives you an output in 3D space.
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Eta hiru-dimentsioko espazioan ondorioa ematen digu.
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So what this means
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Eta horrek jakin nahi du
03:40
is that the user can start plugging in what they want the bricks to do.
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erabiltzaileak berak konekta dezakeela blokeek egin nahi duten lana.
03:43
It computes on what it was doing before
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Berak prozesatzen du arestian egin zuena
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and what you said you wanted it to do.
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eta guk nahi genuen egitea.
03:47
And now it starts moving in three-dimensional space --
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Eta orduan hiru-dimentsioko espazioan mugitzen da --
03:49
so up or down.
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gora eta behera.
03:51
So on the left-hand side, [1,1] input equals 0 output, which goes down.
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Ezkerraldean, [1,1] sarrera daukagu eta irteera da 0, orduan beherantz doa.
03:54
On the right-hand side,
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Eskuinean,
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[0,0] input is a 1 output, which goes up.
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[0,0] sarrera 1 irteera da, orduan gora doa.
03:59
And so what that really means
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Horrek esan nahi du
04:01
is that our structures now contain the blueprints
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gure egiturek planoak dauzkatela
04:03
of what we want to build.
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guk eraikin nahi ditugun eraikuntzetik.
04:05
So they have all of the information embedded in them of what was constructed.
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Haiek aurretik eraikin zenaren informazio integratua dute.
04:08
So that means that we can have some form of self-replication.
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Horrek esan nahi du autoerreplikazio mota bat daukagula eskura.
04:11
In this case I call it self-guided replication,
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Kasu honetan, auto-gidari erreplikazioari deritzogu
04:14
because your structure contains the exact blueprints.
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egiturak instrukzio berberak egiten dituelako.
04:16
If you have errors, you can replace a part.
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Akatsak badaude, zati bat alda daiteke.
04:18
All the local information is embedded to tell you how to fix it.
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Bertako informazioa integratuta dago konponbideak nola egin daitezken erakusteko.
04:21
So you could have something that climbs along and reads it
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Orduan badaukagu gailu bat, zeinek leku hartara igotzen eta han irakurtzen duen
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and can output at one to one.
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eta irtenbide bat eskainiko digun banan banan.
04:25
It's directly embedded; there's no external instructions.
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Dena integratuta; ez dago kanpoko instrukziorik.
04:27
So the last project I'll show is called Biased Chains,
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Orduan nik erakutsiko dizuedan azken proiektua, Kate Bihurriak,
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and it's probably the most exciting example that we have right now
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eta nik uste dut garai honetako adibide hunkigarriena dela
04:33
of passive self-assembly systems.
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autoerainkuntzako sistema pasibokoak.
04:35
So it takes the reconfigurability
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Berak berkonfigurazioa eta programazioa
04:37
and programmability
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kontuan hartuta
04:39
and makes it a completely passive system.
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sistema guztiz pasibo bat bihurtzen du.
04:43
So basically you have a chain of elements.
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Beraz, osagai-katea daukazu.
04:45
Each element is completely identical,
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Osagai bakoitza berdin-berdina da,
04:47
and they're biased.
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eta bihurriak dira.
04:49
So each chain, or each element, wants to turn right or left.
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Osagai bakoitzak ezkerretara edo eskuinera jiratu nahi du.
04:52
So as you assemble the chain, you're basically programming it.
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Beraz, katea lotzean, programazio bat egiten ari zara.
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You're telling each unit if it should turn right or left.
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Osagai bakoitzari esaten diogu ezkerrera edo eskuinera jiratu nahi izateko.
04:58
So when you shake the chain,
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Eta katea astintzen dugunean,
05:01
it then folds up
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tolestu egiten da
05:03
into any configuration that you've programmed in --
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aurretiko antolatzeko konfigurazioan --
05:06
so in this case, a spiral,
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kasu honetan, kiribila,
05:08
or in this case,
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edo beste kasu horretan,
05:11
two cubes next to each other.
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bi kubo, bata bestearen ondoan.
05:14
So you can basically program
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Orduan programa daiteke
05:16
any three-dimensional shape --
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edozein hiru-dimentsioko gailu --
05:18
or one-dimensional, two-dimensional -- up into this chain completely passively.
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edo dimentsio-bakarrekoa, bi-dimentsikoa -- kate honetan modu pasibo batean.
05:21
So what does this tell us about the future?
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Beraz, zer esaten digu horrek geroari buruz?
05:23
I think that it's telling us
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Uste dut adibide horiek erakusten dizkigutela
05:25
that there's new possibilities for self-assembly, replication, repair
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autoeraikuntzarako, erreplikaziorako, konponketarako posibilitate berriak daudela
05:28
in our physical structures, our buildings, machines.
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gure egitura fisikoetan, eraikutzetan, makinerietan.
05:31
There's new programmability in these parts.
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Osagai horietan programazio-ahalmen berriak daude.
05:33
And from that you have new possibilities for computing.
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Eta hortik, konputazio-ahalmen berriak.
05:35
We'll have spatial computing.
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Espazioko konputazio izango dugu.
05:37
Imagine if our buildings, our bridges, machines,
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Demagun gure eraikuntzek, gure zubiek, makineriek,
05:39
all of our bricks could actually compute.
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gure adreiluek kalkuluak egin ditzatekeela.
05:41
That's amazing parallel and distributed computing power,
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Harrigarria da konputazio-ahalmen paralelo eta banatu hori,
05:43
new design possibilities.
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diseinatzeko aukera berriak.
05:45
So it's exciting potential for this.
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Ahalmen hunkigarria da, benetan.
05:47
So I think these projects I've showed here
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Orduan, nik uste dut erakusteko proiektuak
05:49
are just a tiny step towards this future,
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oso urrats txikiak direla gerorako bidean,
05:51
if we implement these new technologies
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teknologia berri horiek inplementatzen baditugu
05:53
for a new self-assembling world.
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autoeraikuntzako mundu berri baterako.
05:55
Thank you.
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Mila esker.
05:57
(Applause)
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(Txaloak)
Translated by Alvaro Moya
Reviewed by TED Open Translation

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Skylar Tibbits - Inventor
Skylar Tibbits, a TED Fellow, is an artist and computational architect working on "smart" components that can assemble themselves.

Why you should listen

Can we create objects that assemble themselves -- that zip together like a strand of DNA or that have the ability for transformation embedded into them? These are the questions that Skylar Tibbits investigates in his Self-Assembly Lab at MIT, a cross-disciplinary research space where designers, scientists and engineers come together to find ways for disordered parts to become ordered structures. 

A trained architect, designer and computer scientist, Tibbits teaches design studios at MIT’s Department of Architecture and co-teaches the seminar “How to Make (Almost) Anything” at MIT’s Media Lab. Before that, he worked at a number of design offices including Zaha Hadid Architects, Asymptote Architecture, SKIII Space Variations and Point b Design. His work has been shown at the Guggenheim Museum and the Beijing Biennale. 

Tibbits has collaborated with a number of influential people over the years, including Neil Gershenfeld and The Center for Bits and Atoms, Erik and Marty Demaine at MIT, Adam Bly at SEED Media Group and Marc Fornes of THEVERYMANY. In 2007, he and Marc Fornes co-curated Scriptedbypurpose, the first exhibition focused exclusively on scripted processes within design. Also in 2007, he founded SJET, a multifaceted practice and research platform for experimental computation and design. SJET crosses disciplines from architecture and design, fabrication, computer science and robotics.

More profile about the speaker
Skylar Tibbits | Speaker | TED.com