'The Writer' Automaton
0:05
其中一個最引人注目的凸輪技術實現是一個小男孩形狀的裝置。
One of the most remarkable realizations of cam technology is a device in the shape of a small boy.
0:15
這或許是世界上最驚人的存活自動機。
It's perhaps the world's most astonishing surviving automaton.
0:28
這張卡片上的內容是一段文字
What's on this card is a piece of writing
0:33
由一台240年歷史的機器製作。
made by a 240-year-old machine.
0:39
我最喜愛的機器之一，也是18世紀最壯觀的自動機之一。
One of my favourite machines, one of the most magnificent automata of the 18th century.
0:45
這就是這個男孩，這位作家。他是在瑞士由瑞士最偉大的鐘錶匠之一皮埃爾·雅克-赫德羅茲製造的。
It's this boy, this writer. He was built in Switzerland by Pierre Jacques-Hedroz, one of Switzerland's greatest clockmakers.
0:59
我認為他的目的是機械化理性並自動化情感。
And the aim was, I think, to mechanise reason and automate the passions.
1:07
雅克-赫德羅茲在1770年代初大約50歲時設計並建造了這件傑作。
Jacques-Hedroz was about 50 years old in the early 1770s when he designed and built this masterpiece.
1:19
這個男孩裡面幾乎有6000個零件。
Inside the boy are almost 6,000 parts.
1:26
驚人的是，這些精心製作的部件每一個都經過精煉和微型化
What's astonishing is that every one of these crafted components has been refined and miniaturized
1:34
以完全適合這個男孩的身體。
to fit completely inside the body of the boy himself.
1:43
雅克-赫德羅茲所做的是利用恆定性和微型化的技術，真正建造了一個自動機。
What Jacques-Hedroz did was to use the technologies of homeostasis, of miniaturization, to build really a true automaton.
1:54
在這位小作家裡面是他所有的能量來源和驅動他的所有機械。
Inside the little writer is all his source of energy and all the machinery that drives him.
2:02
他獨立運作。
He works on his own.
2:19
音樂在
Music At
2:42
他的核心是一堆大型的罐子。
his core is a great stack of cans.
2:51
當這些凸輪運動時，三個凸輪跟隨者讀取它們的形狀邊緣，並將這些轉換為男孩手臂的運動。
As these cams move, three cam followers read their shaped edges and translate these into the movement of the boy's arm.
3:11
這些凸輪協同工作，控制著每一筆的羽毛筆運動，以及施加在紙上的壓力
Working together, the cams control every stroke of the quill pen and exactly how much pressure is applied to the paper
3:21
以實現美麗、優雅和流暢的書寫。
so as to achieve beautiful, elegant and fluid writing.
3:35
有了這台精妙的機器，雅克-赫德羅茲逆向工程了書寫的行為。
With this sublime machine, Jacques-Hydroz had reverse engineered the very act of writing.
3:51
但這個機械男孩還包含一個或許更驚人的特徵。
But the mechanical boy contained one perhaps even more astonishing feature.
3:58
控制凸輪的輪子由可以拆卸、替換和重新排序的字母組成。
The wheel that controlled the cams was made up of letters that could be removed and then replaced and reordered.
4:10
這使得作家在原則上可以寫出任何單詞和任何句子。
These allowed the writer, in principle, to make any word and any sentence.
4:17
換句話說，這使得作家可以被編程。
In other words, it allowed the writer to be programmed.
4:27
這個美麗的男孩因此成為現代可編程計算機的遠祖。
This beautiful boy is thus a distant ancestor of the modern programmable computer.