跟讀練習: I Built a Fully Autonomous Flying Umbrella - 通過影片學習英語口語

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212 句

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This is the flying umbrella and today we're going to make it follow me around.

This is version 2 of my flying umbrella project.

Version 1 was built all the way back in...

2024. I basically just slapped some propellers onto an umbrella and it somehow managed to fly.

Except, as thousands of you guys pointed out, it doesn't follow you.

What if you made the drone follow you instead of using a controller?

Make the umbrella follow you.

Keen to see you follow you automatically.

So today, we're finally going to make things right.

Unfortunately, the current state of the old umbrella is, well...

So we're gonna redesign everything.

More reliable, more convenient, and most importantly, fully autonomous.

I mean, what could go wrong?

If you're wondering what this is, let me explain my plan.

Before we build the upgraded flying umbrella, we need a tracking system that can follow a person.

This can be done with a camera mounted under the umbrella, a depth sensor or lidar, a GPS, or even overseas teleoperators.

No matter which method we use, it's going to take a lot of testing.

Doing all that testing on a giant frame like the umbrella would be a nightmare.

So instead, I'm building this smaller, normal-looking drone to use as a testing platform.

There was no reason to design a custom drone just for testing, so I reached out to Hollibro and they sent me this frame.

To control and stabilize the drone, they also sent me this professional-grade flight controller.

After plugging in the motors, GPS, and receiver, I was ready to start setting up the flight software.

Apparently, it's super easy and should only take a few hours.

It's currently day 16, and that took way longer than it should have.

Although I did run into a few issues here and there, such as these misleading diagrams, the main reason it took so long is because I procrastinated.

Hopefully this doesn't happen again for the rest of the project.

Okay, great.

Now we have a reliable testing drone, but in order for it to autonomously follow a person around, we're going to need a few more components. So...

This is a camera module, and this is another flight controller.

But this time, we have a slot inside for a Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi's job is to process the camera footage and pinpoint where my head is in real time.

Then, it tells the flight controller to fly the drone towards this point so that it constantly stays centered.

This should be pretty simple, but I only have two weeks to work on this project before school starts, so we're going to get some help.

This is Hinson.

He studies computer science at a relatively small university called Stanford, and he's one of the most cracked programmers I know.

While Hinson starts working on the tracking code, I'll go and start building the actual umbrella.

Now, to make an umbrella fly, you need to put propellers on the sides.

But the only solid enough mounting point is the middle rod.

Yeah, do you have a solution?

Yeah, what if we just connected the four propellers to the center using some sort of big frame?

Well, we actually tried that last time, but the giant frame was just way too cumbersome and annoying to bring around.

Hmm, I guess you are right.

if only if they're...

Wait a second.

What if we did folding arms?

I feel like this mechanism shouldn't be that hard to recreate.

Let's make a quick test model as a proof of concept.

Nice.

We also need the arms to lock firmly into place upon opening, but it seems like this mechanism has way too much wiggle room.

But then I realized by simply changing the axes of rotation, for this locking plate, we get rid of this problem completely.

After a lot more designing, printing, and testing, I was able to come up with this design.

Now let's just put four of them together and create our internal frame.

If you're wondering how I'm able to use CAD directly in my browser, it's because I'm using Onshape.

You can try it out six months for free using the link in my description.

Okay, so here's the final design.

We have the central hub that attaches to the umbrella, the locking mechanisms, the hinges, and these arms that we can simply reuse from last time,

although I first had to re-solder some of the wires and add some better ESCs.

Let's get the rest of these parts 3D printed.

Oh shi- At the start of this project,

I was using my BambooLab X1C, but recently, BambooLab sent me their new H2D.

These hinges were designed to be printed out of carbon fiber nylon for maximum strength, but doing so used to be a huge pain.

On the H2D, however, you can simply dry the filament in the AMSHT, and printing is as easy as pressing a button and watching it go.

Thanks to its fully heated chamber and advanced filter, tough engineering filmments like CF Nylon now print without any warping or smell.

The quality of these prints is literally mind-blowing.

If I had this earlier, this project would have been so much easier.

The central hub-wee design looks very cool, but with all these gaps in weird geometries, it required a ton of supports, which left rough surfaces upon removal.

But the H2D has two nozzles that can swap within just a few seconds.

This means you can print in multiple materials and in our case use support filament with minimal changes to print time.

For advanced engineering projects, the H2D is one of the best 3D printers you can get.

But if you're just getting started, Bamboo Lab has options for every budget and skill level.

To learn more, check out the link in the description.

Thank you Bamboo Lab for supporting my projects and sponsoring this video.

These supports remove so much cleaner than the previous ones.

Now let's assemble everything.

Originally I wanted to attach the umbrella to the frame permanently and create some sort of fancy collapsing mechanism, but we're just gonna friction fit it because I got too lazy.

This rod sticks out a bit too much, so let's cut that off.

Somehow the umbrella still works normally?

Let's finish assembling the frame.

All these little locking mechanisms are also printed with CF nylon and slid into place.

And now we can just lock them in with some screws.

Then I had to add 16 more small screws to attach rubber bands.

I couldn't fit my screwdriver in the small gap, so I had to use this Allen wrench over and over which took forever.

But now we can finally start attaching the arms and of course do some great cable management.

Now, when we fold the arm outwards, we can watch the rubber bands engage the mechanism and lock the arm in place.

Nice.

Isn't that actually crazy?

And now it's like the size of a tripod.

And I just go boom, boom, boom.

How did I even make this?

Just like the testing drone, let's add the GPS, the flight controller, the receiver, and other various electronics.

And now, we're ready for our first test flight.

Okay, flight test one.

Would the complex folding arms hold up, or would they cause too many vibrations for the flight controller?

We were about to find out.

No clue if this will work, first flight.

It seemed like the propellers were spinning the wrong way, but since I had my laptop, I was able to quickly reverse the motor directions and...

The drone was still pushing itself into the ground, so I did a bit of troubleshooting and turns out...

I can't reverse them in software.

Let's just do this tomorrow, it's too dark anyways.

100

Okay.

101

Wow, it's tomorrow ready?

102

That was fast.

103

I actually had to rewire and resolder all the motors at 12am which took forever but now… it finally…

104

Maybe it's just a fluke, let's try that again.

105

After a bit of troubleshooting, I was able to fix the problem and now… It was a bit shaky at first,

106

but after using the GPS to set up a position hold, I was able to get this.

107

And just for the fun of it, I decided to try attaching the umbrella as well.

108

But let's save the full reveal for when the autonomous tracking feature is done.

109

Speaking of that, the camera we chose earlier requires a custom tracking code and doesn't work if it's too dark.

110

So instead, we're going to use… Wait John, hear me at… This isn't your ordinary camera.

111

This is a time of flight camera and it sees in depth.

112

Unlike a normal camera that captures light, this one emits light.

113

Let's imagine the simplest scenario, trying to detect the distance to that wall.

114

The top camera emits a single wave of light, which bounces off the wall and comes back.

115

Now if you look closely, the returning light looks almost the same as what was sent out, just slightly shifted.

116

This is called the phase shift, and by measuring it, the camera can directly calculate the distance.

117

Isn't that just LiDAR?

118

You might be thinking, isn't that just lighter?

119

Most lighter use direct time of flight, which times how long a light pulse takes to return, which works great for these large buildings.

120

But at short distances, those nanosecond differences become super hard to measure.

121

By using an indirect time of flight camera, we measure how long the light shifts, which works better for short distances and allows the camera to be much more compact.

122

But what if you're aiming at something that isn't just a flat wall?

123

Well, instead of sending a single beam of light, the camera sends light in all directions.

124

Since the distance is directly proportional to the phase shift, we get this beautiful depth picture.

125

Wow, that's pretty cool.

126

Now, in theory, using this camera is a pretty good choice, but in reality...

127

Really, what does this even mean?

128

We got an ArduCam Uncone error.

129

Oh, would you look at that?

130

There's absolutely no description of what an Uncone error is.

131

By some miraculous miracle, and by downloading a bunch of firmware that we probably weren't supposed to, even the time-of-flight camera was now starting to work,

132

and the tracking code was coming along together as well.

133

Now, it was only a matter of integrating everything together.

134

That's not supposed to happen.

135

Okay, so we had just got the top camera working, and I decided to hold it high up above my head to test it out.

136

But as I was bringing my hand up, it disconnected.

137

And from that moment on, this board just refused to reconnect.

138

No matter who we asked, no matter what we tried, this thing was just completely bricked.

139

Is it the Raspberry Pi that's broken?

140

Or maybe it's the carrier board?

141

Or maybe it's the flight controller?

142

Or maybe the cable broke?

143

Or maybe my laptop isn't working?

144

After a lot of troubleshooting, we determined it was probably the Raspberry Pi.

145

But even if we were correct, with only 6 days left and the 4 day shipping time, we were cutting it really close.

146

While waiting for the Raspberry Pi to arrive, I took the Bear Frame out for a few more test flights to perform some PID tuning

147

so that it could fly more smoothly.

148

But as the days passed, I couldn't stop worrying about how this project would turn out.

149

Dude, that's horrendous.

150

Yeah?

151

I think I watched the video.

152

Wait, actually?

153

Yeah, that was different.

154

I guess that's our project number two.

155

Little did he know, this alleged project number two was on the brink of collapse.

156

If this doesn't work, the project is officially over.

157

Thank you guys.

158

In three, two, one.

159

Oh my god.

160

Uh, well it did something different.

161

Oh my god.

162

I'm pretty sure.

163

Wait, I think it worked.

164

It did not work.

165

No water, no water.

166

And just like

167

that, the project was officially over.

168

I mean, we both had to go to school and we just couldn't afford to dedicate any more time.

169

But no matter how busy I got, I just couldn't stop thinking about the project.

170

So, one day, I decided to give things another go.

171

This time we're replacing every single component with a brand new one, so there should be no way anything fails to connect again.

172

Let's go, it finally works again!

173

Everything was going well at first, but when I tried to connect the only component I didn't replace, the time of flight camera, that didn't work.

174

So I decided to scrap everything and try using a GPS system instead.

175

So now this looks like a bop- It actually worked pretty well, but the GPS was only accurate to about 3 meters,

176

and getting one with enough precision would cost thousands of dollars.

177

It's just like, not that good.

178

So once again, I gave up.

179

It wasn't until half a year later that I decided to give this thing one final try.

180

This time, I decided to bite the bullet and buy another top camera.

181

Oh yeah, and Hinson's back from school for the summer nap.

182

Maybe the real flying umbrella was just the friends we made along the way.

183

Despite a lot more trial and error and a lot more struggles.

184

30 clips of me walking into this field, and then 30 more clips of me walking back with absolutely zero results.

185

Eventually, we got to the point where we were finally able

186

to move from the testing drone to the full-on umbrella and test this thing out.

187

As I started transferring all the tracking hardware from the tracking drone to the umbrella, I honestly had no idea what to expect.

188

What was supposed to be a simple project ended up coming with so many unexpected and unlucky moments.

189

In fact, I barely scratched the surface of what we went through.

190

You can pause here for the full list.

191

Yet somehow, we managed to push through, and tonight, an entire 358 days since the start of this project,

192

we were now attempting to bring to life an idea that had first stemmed three years ago.

193

If this still didn't work, I honestly didn't know what I was going to do.

194

But sometimes you just need to ignore all the doubts in your mind and go for it.

195

Even as it started getting darker, we just couldn't stop playing with this thing.

196

Sir, this is what a flying umbrella is in 2025.

197

Who wants to hold that TV?

198

Let's go!

199

Now, I would be lying if I said that this project turned out perfect.

200

But at the same time, I would also be lying to say that this moment didn't bring us joy.

201

I mean, just look at it.

202

It's like a dream.

203

A literal floating umbrella.

204

Just dancing in the air.

205

I've been a perfectionist my entire life.

206

When we started this project, every single detail mattered.

207

So when things went wrong or weren't perfect, it always felt crushing.

208

But over the past year, I've learned that you can't let perfectionism stop you from finishing.

209

Sometimes, it's not about making something perfect.

210

It's about making it real.

211

And once it was finally real, there was only one thing left to test.

212

That's right, this thing even works in heavy rain.

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這段影片共有 212 個句子、2601 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 17:32。說話人語速平穩，每分鐘約 148 個詞，很適合跟讀。 82% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，其餘的詞建議在練習前先學一下。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中 15 個不太常見的單詞，附發音和釋義：

umbrella /ʌmˈbɹɛl.ə/ (名詞) — 傘 /傘, 雨傘 /雨傘. A cloth-covered frame used for protection against rain or sun.
drone /dɹoʊn/ (名詞) — 雄蜂. A male hymenopteran (ant, bee, hornet, or wasp), whose sole primary function is to mate with the queen.
mechanism /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/ (名詞) — 機械 /機械, 機構 /機構. Any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
attach /əˈtæt͡ʃ/ (動詞) — 附上, 附. To fasten, to join to (literally and figuratively).
component /kəmˈpoʊ.nənt/ (名詞) — 元件, 部件. A smaller, self-contained part of a larger entity. Often refers to a manufactured object that is part of a larger device.
fold /ˈfəʊld/ (動詞) — 摺 /折, 折疊 /摺疊. To bend (any thin material, such as paper) over so that it comes in contact with itself.
mount /maʊnt/ (動詞) — 騎 /騎. To get upon; to ascend; to climb.
custom /ˈkʌstəm/ (名詞) — 習慣 /習慣, 習俗 /習俗. Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving.
connect /kəˈnɛkt/ (動詞) — 連線 /連線. To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
reliable /ɹɪˈlaɪəbl̩/ (形容詞) — 可靠, 穩妥 /穩妥. Suitable or fit to be relied on; worthy of dependence, reliance or trust; dependable, trustworthy
laptop /ˈlæp.tɑp/ (名詞) — 手提電腦 /手提電腦, 手提計算機 /手提計算機. A laptop computer.
rubber /ˈɹʌbɚ/ (名詞) — 橡膠 /橡膠, 橡皮. Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.
collapse /kəˈlæps/ (動詞) — 倒坍, 崩潰 /崩潰. To break apart and fall down suddenly; to cave in.
receiver /ɹəˈsi.vɚ/ (名詞) — 收件人. A person who receives something in a general sense; a recipient.
autonomous /ɔˈtɑnəməs/ (形容詞) — 自治. Governing itself independently.

影片中出現的短語動詞

turn out (動詞) — 原來 /原來. To end up; to result.
look at (動詞) — 觀察 /觀察, 看. To observe or watch.
check out (動詞) — 退房. To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come along (動詞) — 陪伴, 陪同. To accompany.
come back (動詞) — 回來 /回來, 返回. To return to a place.
come up with (動詞) — 想出, 提出. To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
end up (動詞) — 到達. To bring to a conclusion.
find out (動詞) — 找出, 查明. To discover, as by asking or investigating.

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 49 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 we're, isn't, couldn't。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, crush /kɹʌʃ/, rotation /ɹoʊˈteɪʃən/, precision /pɹɪˈsɪʒ.ən/, friction /ˈfɹɪkʃən/
長單詞——注意重音位置: mechanism /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/, autonomous /ɔˈtɑnəməs/, ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, unexpected /ʌnɪkˈspɛktɪd/, electronics /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɑ.nɪks/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
用正常速度逐句跟讀，每句重複到你的節奏與說話人一致為止。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 umbrella, drone, mechanism 這類單詞。

影片中的語法

說話人最常用的結構，並附上影片中的原話：

結構	影片中的用法
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的	was built · can be done · were designed
現在完成時 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去發生但與現在仍有關聯的事	I've been · I've learned

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →

跟讀練習: I Built a Fully Autonomous Flying Umbrella - 通過影片學習英語口語

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