From mach-20 glider to humming bird drone - Regina Dugan

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" asks Regina Dugan, then director of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. In this breathtaking talk she describes some of the extraordinary projects -- a robotic hummingbird, a prosthetic arm controlled by thought, and, well, the internet -- that her agency has created by not worrying that they might fail. (Followed by a Q&A with TED's Chris Anderson)

Talk by Regina Dugan.

[GuyTheMasculine]

It was amazing to see all the different projects in the middle of the video but what I was most impressed with was Ted bringing up the important issues that come with some of them. I mean, her invention has clear military applications.

[samsulh]

WOW! What an awesome presentation! The speaker was excellent. This video made me proud to be a nerd.

[jjmsterjj]

This talk was amazing and encuriging for me to keep pushing forward!

[ZackGisme]

wow now that I'm cluing in she built the hummingbird drone for espionage surveillance and potentially bombs im really not that pumped. thats horrible.

[frankroto]

A "magical place called DARPA", where fearless nerds help develop cool stuff for the military. Sounds perfectly harmless to me.

[MrGarryshinde]

12:30 WOW!
her voice is so inspirational vid!

[AshFarlow]

Notice the pentagram she's wearing?

[huyked]

12:50-13:07 Made me tear up. :'(
14:04-14:19 GO gamers!!
What a great talk. Your recounting of Jason, also made me tear up.

[Aresftfun]

War and hate are hell, but what is inherently wrong can bring hope for the future. It is destructive and stupid and killing each other helps us grow.

[waaawaaawaaa]

They should do this particular lesson on schools.

[claudiuscluver]

I think the point that's in noah962s comment is that there are some things you really don't want to fail in. Like failing to prevent death. I mean, there are people that died in the history of air- and spacecraft but if one should accept that is an open question.

[tommyly]

This world is so big ! And we - human - have achieved extraordinary things !

[jamesbizs]

What would I do if I couldn't fail, and also had near unlimited resources like Darpa? Isn't that the real question?

[JorgeGamaliel]

Very Good!!, Now i´m in love with Regina Dugan i like her intelligence and her blue eyes!!

[Meximagician]

Not as agile, plus it takes an incredible amount of engineering and flight skill to get a helicopter to fly upside down (for prolonged and stable inverted flight at any rate). There's a reason only a handful of pilots are certified for helicopter acrobatics.

[ODNOTHING]

Both life affirming and life destroying technology are possible but which is the priority

[weepingod]

how many speeches hav you made in your life?

[spencerbobbitt]

@caloy6981 you do realize that you just said that on the Internet... Which DARPA started...

[claudiuscluver]

Heaving great weapons makes war more likely. (Nuclear weapons are a possible exception.) But yeah, having the right people be ahead in weapons tech may be a good thing, i don't know.

[llamallama]

Did anyone else get the feeling that that guy does not like her work at all