2020年经济学人 和机器人同行(2)

If robots are to go where people go, they need to be able to move in the way that people move.

如果机器人要去人类去到的地方，它们需要能够像人类一样移动。

Wheels are useless for navigating¹ much of the world—just ask anyone who uses a wheelchair,

轮子在世界上大部分地方都是无用的——问问使用轮椅的人就知道，

says Aaron Ames, a robotics expert at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

加州理工学院（Caltech）的机器人专家Aaron Ames说到。

"We can make robots walk really well now," he says. Such robots can, though, look a little odd.

“我们现在可以让机器人很好地行走，”他说。不过，这样的机器人看起来可能有些怪异。

When a torso with two legs attached strolls out of Dr Ames's laboratory it causes a bit of a sensation on Caltech's campus.

当配有两条腿的躯干从Ames博士的实验室溜出来的时候，它在Caltech校园中引起了小小的轰动。

But this is something people are going to have to get used to, because many more are coming.

但人们将需要习惯，因为会有越来越多这样的机器人问世。

Problems remain, and improvements are needed.

问题仍然存在，并且需要改进。

"But once we get there, we are going to have millions of walking robots in human environments,"

“但一旦我们成功，我们的人类环境中将拥有数百万个行走的机器人，”

says Jonathan Hurst, co-founder of Agility² Robotics, a firm based in Albany, Oregon.

Agility Robotics公司（该公司位于俄勒冈州奥尔巴尼）的联合创始人表示。

It has just launched Digit³, a bipedal, two-armed robot which has the look of an ostrich⁴ about it.

该公司刚刚推出一款双腿双臂机器人Digit，外形酷似鸵鸟。

At present, Digit costs $250,000. But it is early days.

目前，Digit造价25万美元。但还在初期阶段。

As more walking robots are put to work their development will accelerate and their production volumes increase,

随着越来越多的行走机器人被投入使用，它们的开发将加速，它们的产量将增加，

bringing the cost of a machine like Digit down to the tens of thousands of dollars.

因此像Digit这类机器的造价将降至数万美元。

This process is similar to the emergence⁵ of flying drones.

这个过程类似于无人机的出现。

They once cost millions, and had limited uses, until researchers worked out how to make small aircraft hover⁶ using multiple co-ordinated rotors.

曾经它们的成本为是百万，且使用有限，直到研究人员研究出了如何使用多协调转子使小型飞机悬停。

These devices could fly easily and autonomously⁷. Prices fell to $500 or less,

这些装置可以轻松自主地飞行。价格降至五百美元以下，

and multi-rotor drones are now employed for all manner of jobs, from cinematography to aerial surveying to delivering packages.

并且多转子无人机现在被应用于各种工作，如电影摄影、航空测量以及运输包裹。

Some in the field of robotics think walking robots have started down a similar path.

机器人学领域的一些人认为，行走机器人已经走上了类似的道路。

What changed? "We now understand the mathematics of locomotion⁸ to a much greater degree," explains Dr Ames.

什么改变了？“我们现在对移动的数学原理有了更深入了解，”Ames博士解释道。

Old-school walking robots, such as Asimo, a famously cheesy android unveiled in 2000 by Honda, a Japanese carmaker, have stilted⁹ gaits.

老式的行走机器人，如2000年由日本汽车制造商本田公司发布的以廉价著称的机器人Asimo，步态呆板。

They shuffle¹⁰ along, placing one foot forward, checking their balance, moving the other foot, rechecking their balance, and so on.

它们步履蹒跚，每走一步都要检查平衡。

1 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

2 agility   

n.敏捷，活泼

参考例句：

• The boy came upstairs with agility.那男孩敏捷地走上楼来。
• His intellect and mental agility have never been in doubt.他的才智和机敏从未受到怀疑。

3 digit   

n.零到九的阿拉伯数字，手指，脚趾

参考例句：

• Her telephone number differs from mine by one digit.她的电话号码和我的只差一个数字。
• Many animals have five digits.许多动物有5趾。

4 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

5 emergence   

n.浮现，显现，出现，（植物）突出体

参考例句：

• The last decade saw the emergence of a dynamic economy.最近10年见证了经济增长的姿态。
• Language emerges and develops with the emergence and development of society.语言是随着社会的产生而产生，随着社会的发展而发展的。

6 hover   

vi.翱翔，盘旋；徘徊；彷徨，犹豫

参考例句：

• You don't hover round the table.你不要围着桌子走来走去。
• A plane is hover on our house.有一架飞机在我们的房子上盘旋。

7 autonomously   

adv. 自律地，自治地

参考例句：

• To learn autonomously in the network environment is totally new to students. 基于网络环境下的自主学习对学生来说，是一种全新的学习方式。
• The QC-RS can operate autonomously or by remote control. QC-RS能实现自动操作或通过遥控来操作。

8 locomotion   

n.运动，移动

参考例句：

• By land,air or sea,birds are masters of locomotion.无论是通过陆地，飞越空中还是穿过海洋，鸟应算是运动能手了。
• Food sources also elicit oriented locomotion and recognition behavior patterns in most insects.食物源也引诱大多数昆虫定向迁移和识别行为。

9 stilted   

adj.虚饰的；夸张的

参考例句：

• All too soon the stilted conversation ran out.很快这种做作的交谈就结束了。
• His delivery was stilted and occasionally stumbling.他的发言很生硬，有时还打结巴。

10 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。