科學家們訓練這塊塑料“行走”

科學家們訓練這塊塑料“行走”

Scientists have trained a piece of plastic to move and stick to an object of a given color.

科學家們訓練了一塊塑料，讓它移動并粘在一個特定顏色的物體上。

The study, published in the journal Matter, was inspired by Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov’s famous experiment, in which dogs were trained to anticipate food at the sound of a bell.

在俄羅斯科學家伊萬·巴甫洛夫的著名實驗中，狗狗被訓練成聽到鈴響時預測食物，這項發(fā)表在《物質》雜志上的研究便是受該實驗的啟發(fā)。

It’s the first time an inanimate object has been taught to move in this way without using computer programming, scientists in Finland said.

芬蘭的科學家說，這是第一次教一個無生命物體不用計算機編程就可以這樣移動。

Professor Olli Ikkala, from Aalto University, said: “At first, the liquid crystal polymer did not react to light at all, but during the process, it learned to move and grab objects under the guidance of light.”

阿爾托大學的奧利·伊卡拉教授說：“起初，液晶聚合物對光根本沒有反應，但在這個過程中，它學會了在光的引導下移動和抓取物體。”
Professor Arri Priim?gi, from Tampere University, added: “For material to learn, it must have a memory. When the material is heated, the dye originally spread on the surface of the liquid crystal polymer penetrates into the material, thus forming the memory.

坦佩雷大學的Arri Priim?gi教授補充道：“要學習材料，就必須有記憶。當材料被加熱時，最初分布在液晶聚合物表面的染料滲透到材料中，從而形成記憶。”

“Different dyes react to different wavelengths of light, so the initially neutral stimulus (color of light) can be controlled by the dye applied onto it.”

“不同的染料對不同波長的光起反應，所以最初的中性刺激(光的顏色)可以由施加在它上面的染料來控制。”

It’s hoped the research will prove useful in the emerging field of soft robotics.

希望這項研究能在新興的軟機器人領域發(fā)揮作用。

Ikkala said: “If you give a typical mechanical robot a strawberry it might crush it.”

Ikkala說：“如果你給一個典型的機械機器人一個草莓，它可能會壓碎它。”

“So, we need robots that can grasp things very softly. Traditional robots also often need a power cord or a large, heavy battery.”

“所以，我們需要能夠非常輕柔地抓取物體的機器人。傳統(tǒng)的機器人也常常需要一根電源線或一塊大而重的電池。”

“Soft robotics aims at lightweight, external control, for example by using light.”

“軟機器人技術的目標是輕量化的外部控制，例如使用光。”