DARPA Director Speech

Be nice to nerds. I even advise you to get a couple, if they are not yet among your friends. This is so, by the way. Scientists and engineers are changing the world. I want to tell you about a magical place called DARPA. Here, scientists and engineers challenge the impossible and are not afraid of defeat. These two ideas are connected much more than you might think. Because when you get rid of the fear of defeat, the impossible suddenly becomes possible.

Want to know how it turns out? Ask yourself: “What would I do if I knew for sure that I was not threatened with failure?” If you really ask yourself this question, then you will feel some awkwardness. I now feel a little uncomfortable. Because when you ask it, you begin to understand how much the fear of failure prevents us, how it interferes with the realization of great ideas, and life becomes boring, nothing extraordinary happens anymore. Good things happen, but there are no extraordinary things left.

I want to clarify that I do not urge to make mistakes, I urge them to stop being afraid of them. Because they do not bother us errors. On the way to the new, unknown to anyone, they still happen. This is a test of strength. And such verification is an integral part of great achievements. As Clemenceau said: “Life becomes more interesting when we fail, because defeat is evidence that we have surpassed ourselves.”

In 1895, Lord Kelvin declared that the existence of an aircraft was impossible, heavier than air. In October 1903, the vast majority of specialists in aerodynamics believed that maybe after 10 million years we still build the plane that will fly. And after 2 months, on December 17, Orville Wright flew on the first airplane over the beach in North Carolina. The flight lasted 12 seconds, the airplane covered 120 meters. It was the year 1903.

A year later, a new insurmountable obstacle was announced. French General Ferdinand Foch, a man of outstanding intellect and fantasy, said: "Airplanes are interesting toys, but useless for the military." 40 years later, the term "near-sound" appeared. Experts are arguing about the spelling of the term. They had problems with flight mode, it was not clear whether we could fly faster than sound. In 1947, no speed exceeding 0.85M was recorded in the wind tunnel. But still, on Tuesday, October 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager climbed into the cockpit of Bell X-1 and flew towards the unknown and, having made this flight, he became the first pilot to overcome the sound barrier. Six of the eight Atlas rockets exploded at the site. We received the first pictures from space after 11 unsuccessful attempts. And this first flight gave us more information than all the U-2 flights combined. I had to suffer a lot of defeats to get there.

Since we climbed into the sky, we wanted to fly faster and farther. And to achieve this, you had to believe in the impossible. It was necessary to overcome the fear of defeat. Now it is no less important. Today we are not talking about transonic or supersonic speed, we are interested in hypersonic flight. Not 2M or 3M, but 20M. With a Mach number of 20, we can fly from New York to Long Beach in 11 minutes and 20 seconds. At this speed, the surface of the airframe reaches the melting point of steel, 2,000 degrees, as in a blast furnace. We, in fact, burn the body of the airframe during the flight. But we are still flying, or trying.

The test hypersonic device created by DARPA is the fastest maneuvering aircraft ever built. It is delivered to the near space by the rocket Minotaur IV. Minotaur IV gives too much push to weaken it, in some parts of the trajectory we launch a rocket with an angle of attack of 89 degrees. For a rocket, this is unnatural behavior. The third stage is equipped with a camera. We call it a racamera. It is aimed at a hypersonic glider. This is a video of the first flight from the camera on a rocket carrier. To hide the form, we slightly changed the aspect ratio. But here's what it looks like from the third stage of the rocket, looking at the glider without a pilot, when it goes into the atmosphere, back to Earth.

We made two flights. During the first flight we had no aerodynamic control. But we received much more information about hypersonic flights than in 30 years of ground research. In the second flight, 3 minutes of fully controlled aerodynamic flight at a speed of 20M. We have to fly again, because no-one-before-perfect things require that we fly. You can not learn to fly at a speed of 20M, if you do not fly. Nothing compares to high speed, but there is another important point - maneuverability.

The Max-20 glider needs 11 minutes and 20 seconds to get from New York to Long Beach, and the hummingbird will take several days to do this. Hummingbirds do not fly at hypersonic speed, but they are amazingly manoeuvrable. Hummingbirds are the only bird that can fly backwards. She can fly up, down forward, backward and even upside down. Therefore, if you need to fly into this room or where no man will pass, we will need an aircraft small enough and maneuverable for him to succeed.

This is a hummingbird drone. He can fly in any direction, even back. It can hover and spin. This prototype is equipped with a video camera. It weighs less than an AA battery. No, he does not eat nectar. In 2008, he lasted 20 seconds in the air, after a year - two minutes, then six, and as a result - 11. Very many prototypes broke, very many. But there is no other way to learn how to fly, like a hummingbird other than how to fly. (Applause) Great, isn't it. Wow. Sumptuously. Matt is the first ever hummingbird pilot. (Applause)

Failure is part of creating new and amazing things. You can not simultaneously be afraid of failure and create extraordinary things. Here, for example, the robot, keeps balance on a rough road or even on ice; a robot that runs like a cheetah, this one can go up the stairs like a person, he even stumbles like a person. Or, for example, Spider-Man will one day become a Gecko-Man. A gecko can hold all body weight on one finger. One square millimeter of the gecko's foot is covered with 14,000 hair-like outgrowths, they are called bristles. They help to attach to the surface due to intermolecular interaction.

We can make bristles similar to those of geckos on paws. As a result, an area of ​​10 by 10 centimeters of an artificial gecko nano-velcro is capable of holding a fixed weight of 300 kilograms. That's enough for you to stick six 42-inch televisions to the wall, completely without nails. There is something to think about manufacturers of Velcro.

This is not only about passive structures, but about whole mechanisms. This is a spider mite. Its length is one millimeter, but it looks like Godzilla in comparison with these micromechanisms. In the world of godzill mites, we can create millions of mirrors, each one-fifth the size of a human hair, make them rotate hundreds of thousands of times a second to create large-screen displays and watch movies like Godzilla in high resolution.

If we can build machines of this scale, then what about designs like Eiffel Tower farms, only on a microscale? We create metals easier than polyfoam, so light that they will not take on the dandelion fluff, they can carry a light breeze of wind. They are so light that you can make a car that can be raised by two people, while it will be as strong as an SUV.

From the light breeze we move on to the gusts of a storm. Every second in the world strikes 44 lightning. Each discharge warms the air to 24,000 degrees Celsius - hotter than the surface of the sun. But what if we could use these electromagnetic pulses as beacons, beacons for a mobile network of high-power transmitters? Experiments suggest that lightning may become the next GPS.

Thoughts are electrical impulses. Using a thumb-sized reticulum with 32 electrodes located on the surface of the brain, Tim manages a prosthetic arm with his own thoughts. It was his thoughts that made his hand reach for Katie. For the first time, a person controls a robot only by an effort of thought. And here Tim holds Katie by the hand for the first time in seven years. It was an important moment for Tim and Katie. And for you sometime this green something will become important. Probably green mucus is a vaccine that will save your life. It was obtained from tobacco. Tobacco bushes can produce millions of doses of vaccine in a few weeks, not months. Perhaps for the first time tobacco is used with health benefits.

If the health-giving tobacco for you is too distant a prospect, then what about the players who solve the tasks inaccessible to the experts? Last September, the Foldit players deciphered the three-dimensional structure of the retroviral protease, which helps in the treatment of AIDS in rhesus monkeys. Understanding this structure is very important for developing treatment. 15 years the scientific community could not cope with it. And players from Foldit decrypted in 15 days. They succeeded because they worked together. And they can work together because they are connected to the Internet. Other people used the Internet as a democratic tool. Together they changed the fate of an entire nation.

The Internet is home to 2 billion people, 30 percent of the world's population. He gives everyone the opportunity to express their opinions and be heard. In this way, we can strengthen the voice and strength of each individually, by joining the group. But the appearance of the Internet was not brilliant. In 1969 he was just a dream, a couple of sketches on a sheet of paper. And on October 29, the first packet-switched message was sent from the University of California to Stanford. The first two letters of the word "Login", that's all that managed to pass. L and O, and then the buffer overflowed and broke the system. (Laughter) Two letters, L and O, now is a world force.

So who are these scientists from a magical place called DARPA? These are nerds, and they are our heroes. They expand the horizons of modern science, being in difficult conditions. They remind us that you can change the world when you believe that everything is possible and you are not afraid of failure. They are a living reminder that everyone has this nerd power. We just sometimes forget about it.

There was a time when you were not afraid of failures, when you were a great artist or dancer, you could sing and succeed in mathematics, you could build anything, fly into space, be a traveler, Jacques Cousteau, jump higher than everyone, run faster than anyone and hit the ball is the strongest of all. You believed in the impossible and were fearless. And they were one with their inner superhero. Scientists and engineers can really change the world. Also you can. You were born for this. So, let's ask ourselves, what will we do if we stop being afraid of failure?

I note that this is not an easy task. It is hard to keep this feeling hard. In a sense, I think this is considered a challenge. When fear and doubts creep up on us. We think that someone smarter than us, someone more capable than us, someone with the best resources, will solve our problem. But there is no one else; Only you. If you're lucky, then at the moment of doubt and fear, someone will come, take us by the hand and say: "Let me help you to believe."

Jason Harley helped me. Jason came to DARPA on May 18, 2010. He worked in the courier service. I met him almost every day, sometimes several times. He knew more than many people know, he saw ups and downs, triumph and disappointment. And on one of the darkest days that happened in my life, Jason wrote me a letter. He sounded inspiring and firm. By clicking on the "send" button, he probably did not even suspect what kind of revolution he would perform in me. At that moment, and still, when I have doubts, when I am afraid, when I want to return that same feeling, I remember his words, so strong are they.

Text: "Time - just stroke the cloak, and back to heaven."

♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫ ♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫ ♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫ ♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫ ♫ Superhero, superhero. ♫

Voice: That's what it means to be a superhero.

RD: Time - just stroke the cloak, and back to heaven. And remember, be polite with nerds. (Applause) Thank you. Thank.

(Applause)

Chris Anderson: Regina, thank you. I have a couple of questions. Your glider, max-20 glider, the first one without control, he found himself somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, right?

RD: Yes, it was. (CA: What happened to the second one?) Yes, he also ended the flight in the Pacific Ocean. (CA: But this time under control?) We did not send him to the Pacific Ocean. When flying at this speed on the trajectory there are several difficult sections. In the second flight, we managed to achieve 3 minutes of complete aerodynamic control over the device, until we lost control.

KA: It seems that you are not planning on passenger transportation from New York to Long Beach yet?

RD: It will probably be hot in him.

CA: What can you use this glider?

RD: We have to develop the technology by itself. How to use it in practice will be decided by the military. And the purpose of this device, the purpose of this technology is to get to anywhere in the world in less than 60 minutes.

CA: And grab more than a few kilograms of payload? RD: Yes. How much cargo can he carry?

RD: We do not know exactly how much it will be. First you need to fly.

CA: But not only the camera?

RD: No, not just the camera.

KA: Excellent. Now about the hummingbird?

RD: Yes?

KA: At the beginning of the performance, you showed beautiful shots where the plane was flapping its wings and falling hard, since then there have been some planes flapping their wings. Why did you think it was time for biomimicry and copied hummingbirds? Is it too expensive solution for a small maneuverable flying object?

RD: On the one hand, it was curious to find out how it is possible at all. These questions need to come back from time to time. The guys from AeroVironment tried 300 different versions of the wings, 12 forms of avionics. It took 10 complete prototypes to create one that can fly. There is something interesting in cars that look familiar. We often talk about how to avoid being noticed, but we don’t notice things that look natural.

KA: That is, it is not only maneuverability. This is part of the final image. (RD: Of course.) For example: "Oh, what a nice hummingbird flew into our headquarters." (Laughter) I think that many, despite the delight of the demonstration, thought about the fact that technology is developing so rapidly. How much longer will it take before some crazy person with a control panel sends such a thing to the White House window? Have you thought about the problem of Pandora's mailbox?

RD: Well, our only task is to create and prevent strategic surprises. We are doing this. It is difficult to imagine that our work will not cause excitement and anxiety in people at the same time. This is the meaning of our work. We are responsible for leading the way. And, of course, we have to be careful and prudent in how technologies are developed and used. But you can not just close your eyes and pretend that further development does not occur.

KA: Obviously, you are an inspiring leader. You can inspire people to create masterpieces of inventions, but personally I can not imagine myself in your place. It happens that you wake up at night, asking yourself what the genius of your team can turn into?

RD: Yes, of course. This is the human essence, to ask such questions.

CA: How do you answer them?

RD: I don't always have an answer to them. We will learn more with time. My work can turn the head. I work with amazing people. But with joy, she carries a deep sense of responsibility. It turns out, on the one hand, the most powerful rise of inspiring opportunities, and on the other - the unbearable seriousness of what they entail.

CA: Regina, amazing performance. Thank you for coming to TED. (RD: And thank you)

(Applause)