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Regina Dugan: You should be nice
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to nerds.
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In fact, I'd go so far as to say,
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if you don't already have a nerd in your life,
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you should get one.
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I'm just saying.
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Scientists and engineers
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change the world.
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I'd like to tell you
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about a magical place called DARPA
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where scientists and engineers
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defy the impossible
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and refuse to fear failure.
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Now these two ideas
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are connected more than you may realize,
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because when you remove the fear of failure,
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impossible things
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suddenly become possible.
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If you want to know how,
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ask yourself this question:
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What would you attempt to do
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if you knew you could not fail?
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If you really ask yourself
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this question,
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you can't help but feel uncomfortable.
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I feel a little uncomfortable.
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Because when you ask it,
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you begin to understand
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how the fear of failure constrains you,
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how it keeps us
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from attempting great things,
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and life gets dull,
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amazing things stop happening.
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Sure, good things happen,
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but amazing things
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stop happening.
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Now I should be clear,
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I'm not encouraging failure,
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I'm discouraging
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fear of failure.
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Because it's not failure itself
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that constrains us.
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The path to truly new,
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never-been-done-before things
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always has failure along the way.
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We're tested.
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And in part, that testing feels an appropriate part
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of achieving something great.
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Clemenceau said,
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"Life gets interesting when we fail,
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because it's a sign
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that we've surpassed ourselves."
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In 1895,
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Lord Kelvin declared
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that heavier-than-air flying machines
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were impossible.
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In October of 1903,
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the prevailing opinion
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of expert aerodynamicists
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was that maybe in 10 million years
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we could build an aircraft that would fly.
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And two months later on December 17th,
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Orville Wright powered the first airplane
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across a beach in North Carolina.
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The flight lasted 12 seconds
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and covered 120 feet.
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That was 1903.
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One year later,
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the next declarations of impossibilities began.
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Ferdinand Foch, a French army general
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credited with having one of the most original and subtle minds
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in the French army,
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said, "Airplanes are interesting toys,
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but of no military value."
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40 years later,
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aero experts coined the term transonic.
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They debated, should it have one S or two?
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You see, they were having trouble in this flight regime,
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and it wasn't at all clear
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that we could fly faster than the speed of sound.
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In 1947,
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there was no wind tunnel data
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beyond Mach 0.85.
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And yet,
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on Tuesday, October 14th, 1947,
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Chuck Yeager climbed into the cockpit
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of his Bell X-1
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and he flew
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towards an unknown possibility,
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and in so doing,
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he became the first pilot
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to fly faster than the speed of sound.
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Six of eight Atlas rockets
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blew up on the pad.
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After 11 complete mission failures,
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we got our first images from space.
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And on that first flight
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we got more data
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than in all U-2 missions combined.
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It took a lot of failures
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to get there.
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Since we took to the sky,
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we have wanted to fly
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faster and farther.
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And to do so,
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we've had to believe in impossible things.
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And we've had to refuse
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to fear failure.
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That's still true today.
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Today, we don't talk about flying transonically,
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or even supersonically,
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we talk about flying hypersonically --
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not Mach 2 or Mach 3, Mach 20.
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At Mach 20,
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we can fly from New York to Long Beach
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in 11 minutes and 20 seconds.
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At that speed,
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the surface of the airfoil
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is the temperature of molten steel --
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3,500 degrees Fahrenheit --
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like a blast furnace.
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We are essentially burning the airfoil
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as we fly it.
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And we are flying it,
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or trying to.
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DARPA's hypersonic test vehicle
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is the fastest maneuvering aircraft
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ever built.
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It's boosted to near-space
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atop a Minotaur IV rocket.
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Now the Minotaur IV has too much impulse,
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so we have to bleed it off
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by flying the rocket
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at an 89 degree angle of attack
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for portions of the trajectory.
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That's an unnatural act
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for a rocket.
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The third stage has a camera.
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We call it rocketcam.
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And it's pointed
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at the hypersonic glider.
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This is the actual rocketcam footage
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from flight one.
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Now to conceal the shape, we changed the aspect ratio a little bit.
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But this is what it looks like
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from the third stage of the rocket
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looking at the unmanned glider
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as it heads into the atmosphere
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back towards Earth.
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We've flown twice.
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In the first flight,
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no aerodynamic control of the vehicle.
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But we collected more hypersonic flight data
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than in 30 years
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of ground-based testing combined.
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And in the second flight,
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three minutes of fully-controlled,
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aerodynamic flight
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at Mach 20.
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We must fly again,
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because amazing, never-been-done-before things
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require that you fly.
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You can't learn to fly at Mach 20
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unless you fly.
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And while there's no substitute for speed,
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maneuverability is a very close second.
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If a Mach 20 glider takes 11 minutes and 20 seconds
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to get from New York to Long Beach,
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a hummingbird would take,
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well, days.
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You see, hummingbirds are not hypersonic,
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but they are maneuverable.
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In fact, the hummingbird is the only bird
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that can fly backwards.
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It can fly up, down,
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forwards, backwards,
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even upside-down.
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And so if we wanted to fly in this room
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or places where humans can't go,
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we'd need an aircraft
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small enough and maneuverable enough
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to do so.
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This is a hummingbird drone.
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It can fly in all directions,
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even backwards.
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It can hover and rotate.
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This prototype aircraft
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is equipped with a video camera.
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It weighs less than one AA battery.
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It does not eat nectar.
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In 2008,
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it flew for a whopping 20 seconds,
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a year later, two minutes,
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then six,
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eventually 11.
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Many prototypes crashed -- many.
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But there's no way
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to learn to fly like a hummingbird
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unless you fly.
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(Applause)
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It's beautiful, isn't it.
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Wow.
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It's great.
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Matt is the first ever hummingbird pilot.
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(Applause)
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Failure is part of creating
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new and amazing things.
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We cannot both fear failure
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and make amazing new things --
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like a robot
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with the stability of a dog on rough terrain,
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or maybe even ice;
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a robot that can run like a cheetah,
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or climb stairs like a human
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with the occasional clumsiness of a human.
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Or perhaps, Spider Man
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will one day be Gecko Man.
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A gecko can support
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its entire body weight
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with one toe.
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One square millimeter of a gecko's footpad
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has 14,000 hair-like structures
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called setae.
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They are used to help it grip to surfaces
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using intermolecular forces.
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Today we can manufacture structures
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that mimic the hairs of a gecko's foot.
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The result,
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a four-by-four-inch
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artificial nano-gecko adhesive.
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can support a static load
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of 660 pounds.
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That's enough to stick
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six 42-inch plasma TV's to your wall,
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no nails.
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So much for Velcro, right?
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And it's not just passive structures,
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it's entire machines.
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This is a spider mite.
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It's one millimeter long,
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but it looks like Godzilla
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next to these micromachines.
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In the world of Godzilla spider mites,
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we can make millions of mirrors,
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each one-fifth the diameter
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of a human hair,
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moving at hundreds of thousands of times per second
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to make large screen displays,
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so that we can watch movies like "Godzilla"
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in high-def.
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And if we can build machines
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at that scale,
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what about Eiffel Tower-like trusses
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at the microscale?
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Today we are making metals
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that are lighter than Styrofoam,
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so light
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they can sit atop a dandelion puff
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and be blown away
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with a wisp of air --
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so light
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that you can make a car that two people can lift,
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but so strong
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that it has the crash-worthiness of an SUV.
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From the smallest wisp of air
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to the powerful forces of nature's storms.
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There are 44 lightning strikes per second
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around the globe.
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Each lightning bolt heats the air
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to 44,000 degrees Fahrenheit --
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hotter than the surface of the Sun.
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What if we could use
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these electromagnetic pulses
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as beacons,
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beacons in a moving network
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of powerful transmitters?
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Experiments suggest
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that lightning could be the next GPS.
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Electrical pulses form the thoughts in our brains.
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Using a grid the size of your thumb,
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with 32 electrodes
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on the surface of his brain,
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Tim uses his thoughts
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to control an advanced prosthetic arm.
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And his thoughts
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made him reach for Katie.
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This is the first time
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a human has controlled a robot
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with thought alone.
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And it is the first time
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that Tim has held Katie's hand
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in seven years.
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That moment mattered
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to Tim and Katie,
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and this green goo
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may someday matter to you.
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This green goo
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is perhaps the vaccine that could save your life.
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It was made in tobacco plants.
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Tobacco plants
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can make millions of doses of vaccine
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in weeks instead of months,
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and it might just be
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the first healthy use of tobacco ever.
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And if it seems far-fetched
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that tobacco plants could make people healthy,
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what about gamers that could solve problems
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that experts can't solve?
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Last September,
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the gamers of Foldit
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solved the three-dimensional structure
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of the retroviral protease
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that contributes to AIDS in rhesus monkeys.
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Now understanding this structure
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is very important for developing treatments.
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For 15 years,
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it was unsolved
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in the scientific community.
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The gamers of Foldit
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00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,000
solved it in 15 days.
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Now they were able to do so
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by working together.
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They were able to work together
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because they're connected by the Internet.
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And others, also connected to the Internet,
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used it as an instrument of democracy.
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And together
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they changed the fate of their nation.
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The Internet is home to two billion people,
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or 30 percent of the world's population.
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It allows us to contribute
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and to be heard
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as individuals.
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It allows us to amplify
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our voices and our power
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as a group.
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But it too had humble beginnings.
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In 1969, the internet was but a dream,
339
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a few sketches on a piece of paper.
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And then on October 29th,
341
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the first packet-switched message was sent
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from UCLA to SRI.
343
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:05,000
The first two letters of the word "Login,"
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that's all that made it through --
345
00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:09,000
an L and an O --
346
00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,000
and then a buffer overflow crashed the system.
347
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:14,000
(Laughter)
348
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Two letters,
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an L and an O,
350
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now a worldwide force.
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00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,000
So who are these scientists and engineers
352
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,000
at a magical place called DARPA?
353
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They are nerds,
354
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:35,000
and they are heroes among us.
355
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They challenge existing perspectives
356
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,000
at the edges of science
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and under the most demanding of conditions.
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They remind us
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that we can change the world
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if we defy the impossible
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and we refuse to fear failure.
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They remind us
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that we all have nerd power.
364
00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,000
Sometimes we just forget.
365
00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,000
You see, there was a time
366
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,000
when you weren't afraid of failure,
367
00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:09,000
when you were a great artist or a great dancer
368
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,000
and you could sing, you were good at math,
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00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:14,000
you could build things, you were an astronaut,
370
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,000
an adventurer, Jacques Cousteau,
371
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:18,000
you could jump higher, run faster,
372
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,000
kick harder than anyone.
373
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,000
You believed in impossible things
374
00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,000
and you were fearless.
375
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,000
You were totally and completely in touch
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00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:33,000
with your inner superhero.
377
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,000
Scientists and engineers
378
00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,000
can indeed change the world.
379
00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:41,000
So can you.
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00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,000
You were born to.
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00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,000
So go ahead,
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ask yourself,
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00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,000
what would you attempt to do
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if you knew you could not fail?
385
00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,000
Now I want to say,
386
00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,000
this is not easy.
387
00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,000
It's hard to hold onto this feeling,
388
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:01,000
really hard.
389
00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,000
I guess in some way,
390
00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:05,000
I sort of believe it's supposed to be hard.
391
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,000
Doubt and fear always creep in.
392
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,000
We think someone else, someone smarter than us,
393
00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:13,000
someone more capable,
394
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,000
someone with more resources will solve that problem.
395
00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,000
But there isn't anyone else;
396
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,000
there's just you.
397
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:23,000
And if we're lucky,
398
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,000
in that moment,
399
00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,000
someone steps into that doubt and fear,
400
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,000
takes a hand and says,
401
00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,000
"Let me help you believe."
402
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:37,000
Jason Harley did that for me.
403
00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:40,000
Jason started at DARPA
404
00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,000
on March 18th, 2010.
405
00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:46,000
He was with our transportation team.
406
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000
I saw Jason nearly every day,
407
00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:50,000
sometimes twice a day.
408
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:52,000
And more so than most,
409
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,000
he saw the highs and the lows,
410
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,000
the celebrations and the disappointments.
411
00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,000
And on one particularly dark day for me,
412
00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:05,000
Jason sat down
413
00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:08,000
and he wrote an email.
414
00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:10,000
He was encouraging,
415
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,000
but firm.
416
00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,000
And when he hit send,
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00:18:14,000 --> 00:18:17,000
he probably didn't realize what a difference it would make.
418
00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:19,000
It mattered to me.
419
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,000
In that moment
420
00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,000
and still today
421
00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,000
when I doubt,
422
00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:29,000
when I feel afraid,
423
00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:31,000
when I need to reconnect
424
00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,000
with that feeling,
425
00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,000
I remember his words,
426
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:38,000
they were so powerful.
427
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:41,000
Text: "There is only time enough to iron your cape
428
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,000
and back to the skies with you."
429
00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:47,000
♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫
430
00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:50,000
♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫
431
00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,000
♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫
432
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:57,000
♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫
433
00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,000
♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫
434
00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:07,000
Voice: Because that's what being a superhero is all about.
435
00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,000
RD: "There is only time enough
436
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,000
to iron your cape
437
00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:18,000
and back to the skies for you."
438
00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:20,000
And remember,
439
00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:22,000
be nice to nerds.
440
00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:37,000
(Applause)
441
00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,000
Thank you. Thank you.
442
00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:41,000
(Applause)
443
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:43,000
Chris Anderson: Regina, thank you.
444
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:45,000
I have a couple of questions.
445
00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,000
So that glider of yours,
446
00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:49,000
the Mach 20 glider,
447
00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,000
the first one, no control, it ended up in the Pacific I think somewhere.
448
00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:55,000
RD: Yeah, yeah. It did. (CA: What happened on that second flight?)
449
00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:59,000
Yeah, it also went into the Pacific. (CA: But this time under control?)
450
00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,000
We didn't fly it into the Pacific.
451
00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:05,000
No, there are multiple portions of the trajectory
452
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:07,000
that are demanding
453
00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,000
in terms of really flying at that speed.
454
00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:13,000
And so in the second flight,
455
00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:15,000
we were able to get three minutes
456
00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:19,000
of fully aerodynamic control of the vehicle before we lost it.
457
00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,000
CA: I imagine you're not planning to open up to passenger service
458
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:24,000
from New York to Long Beach anytime soon.
459
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,000
RD: It might be a little warm.
460
00:20:27,000 --> 00:20:30,000
CA: What do you picture that glider being used for?
461
00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:32,000
RD: Well our responsibility
462
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:34,000
is to develop the technology for this.
463
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,000
How it's ultimately used
464
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000
will be determined by the military.
465
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,000
Now the purpose of the vehicle though,
466
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,000
the purpose of the technology,
467
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,000
is to be able to reach anywhere in the world
468
00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:47,000
in less than 60 minutes.
469
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,000
CA: And to carry a payload
470
00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:51,000
of more than a few pounds? (RD: Yeah.)
471
00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:55,000
Like what's the payload it could carry?
472
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,000
RD: Well I don't think we ultimately know what it will be, right.
473
00:20:58,000 --> 00:21:00,000
We've got to fly it first.
474
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,000
CA: But not necessarily just a camera?
475
00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:06,000
RD: No, not necessarily just a camera.
476
00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,000
CA: It's amazing.
477
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,000
The hummingbird?
478
00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:13,000
RD: Yeah?
479
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,000
CA: I'm curious, you started your beautiful sequence on flight
480
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,000
with a plane kind of trying to flap its wings
481
00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,000
and failing horribly,
482
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,000
and there haven't been that many planes built since
483
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,000
that flap wings.
484
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:29,000
Why did we think that this was the time to go biomimicry
485
00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,000
and copy a hummingbird?
486
00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:33,000
Isn't that a very expensive solution
487
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:37,000
for a small maneuverable flying object?
488
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000
RD: So I mean, in part,
489
00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,000
we wondered if it was possible to do it.
490
00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,000
And you have to revisit these questions
491
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,000
over time.
492
00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,000
The folks at AeroVironment
493
00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,000
tried 300 or more different wing designs,
494
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12 different forms of the avionics.
495
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:55,000
It took them 10 full prototypes
496
00:21:55,000 --> 00:21:57,000
to get something that would actually fly.
497
00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,000
But there's something really interesting
498
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,000
about a flying machine
499
00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,000
that looks like something you'd recognize.
500
00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,000
So we often talk about stealth
501
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,000
as a means for avoiding any type of sensing,
502
00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:13,000
but when things looks just natural,
503
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,000
you also don't see them.
504
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:18,000
CA: Ah. So it's not necessarily just the performance.
505
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:20,000
It's partly the look. (RD: Sure.)
506
00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000
It's actually, "Look at that cute hummingbird
507
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000
flying into my headquarters."
508
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,000
(Laughter)
509
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:30,000
Because I think, as well as the awe of looking at that,
510
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,000
I'm sure some people here are thinking,
511
00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,000
technology catches up so quick,
512
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,000
how long is it
513
00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,000
before some crazed geek with a little remote control
514
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:40,000
flies one through a window of the White House?
515
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:44,000
I mean, do you worry about the Pandora's box issue here?
516
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:48,000
RD: Well look, our singular mission
517
00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,000
is the creation and prevention of strategic surprise.
518
00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,000
That's what we do.
519
00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,000
It would be inconceivable
520
00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:58,000
for us to do that work
521
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:01,000
if we didn't make people excited and uncomfortable with the things that we do
522
00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:03,000
at the same time.
523
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000
It's just the nature of what we do.
524
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,000
Now our responsibility
525
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,000
is to push that edge.
526
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,000
And we have to be, of course, mindful and responsible
527
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,000
of how the technology is developed
528
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,000
and ultimately used,
529
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:20,000
but we can't simply close our eyes
530
00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,000
and pretend that it isn't advancing; it's advancing.
531
00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,000
CA: I mean, you're clearly a really inspiring leader.
532
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,000
And you persuade people
533
00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,000
to go to these great feats of invention,
534
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:33,000
but at a personal level,
535
00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,000
in a way I can't imagine doing your job.
536
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:37,000
Do you wake up in the night sometimes,
537
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,000
just asking questions
538
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,000
about the possibly unintended consequences
539
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,000
of your team's brilliance?
540
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,000
RD: Sure.
541
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,000
I think you couldn't be human
542
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000
if you didn't ask those questions.
543
00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:52,000
CA: How do you answer them?
544
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,000
RD: Well I don't always have answers for them, right.
545
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,000
I think that we learn
546
00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:01,000
as time goes on.
547
00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:07,000
My job is one of the most exhilarating jobs you could have.
548
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:11,000
I work with some of the most amazing people.
549
00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:13,000
And with that exhilaration,
550
00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:15,000
comes a really deep sense
551
00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,000
of responsibility.
552
00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,000
And so you have on the one hand
553
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,000
this tremendous lift
554
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,000
of what's possible
555
00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,000
and this tremendous seriousness
556
00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,000
of what it means.
557
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,000
CA: Regina, that was jaw-dropping, as they say.
558
00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,000
Thank you so much for coming to TED. (RD: Thank you.)
559
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,000
(Applause)
