2020年经济学人和机器人同行(2)（打印版）

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 navigating 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 Agility 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 Digit, a bipedal, two-armed robot which has the look of an ostrich 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 emergence 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 hover 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 autonomously. 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 locomotion 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 stilted 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 shuffle 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。