#video #Mark Robers CrunchLabs S03E05 Episode 5 Engsub
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00:00Hiding inside this box is an absolute marvel of engineering you might just find protecting
00:04you the next time you're at a public event.
00:06That's got a lot of people.
00:12And while this just might look like a boring old drone, it's actually one of the fastest
00:16in the world.
00:17It's autonomous, and it weighs five times more than is typical.
00:20Because the purpose of this drone is to lock onto a bad guy drone trying to do bad guy
00:25things, and then smash it into a thousand pieces.
00:28Now that drones have become so incredibly cheap, fast, and maneuverable, it's only a
00:33matter of time before they're used to carry explosives to attack key infrastructure, or
00:38even worse.
00:39But before you get too worried, there's some good news here, and so today we're gonna take
00:42a look at all the latest technologies being developed to combat this very possible scenario.
00:48And then after we see how the pros are doing it, we'll investigate how a few backyard YouTube
00:53engineers would handle the same problem.
00:55And I don't want to give too much away, but it might involve giant dart turrets, Tesla
00:59coil water guns, and the world's largest vortex cannon.
01:03Now to kick things off with the pros, I headed down to a company called Andro, who are one
01:07of the leaders when it comes to drone defense, where I met up with their founder Palmer Luckey,
01:11who by the way, you might recognize as the dude who dropped out of school at 19 years old
01:15to invent the Oculus VR headset.
01:17And right out of the gate, he set the stage.
01:19The United States has the ability to defend against fighter jet attacks or bomber invasions,
01:23and zero ability to control what happens in the first few hundred feet of our airspace.
01:26That's the thing we have to solve, we have to tame the Wild West.
01:29Palmer explained to me there are six primary ways to take out a drone with bad intentions,
01:33and every method has a major flaw, except for number six.
01:37The first is jamming, where you just overwhelm the drone with fake radio signals so it can no longer hear
01:42the instructions from the human operator and they lose control.
01:4570% of all consumer drones are from DJI, and they actually provide the equipment to law enforcement
01:51that will jam the communications like this.
01:53The second method to take out a drone with bad intentions is hacking,
01:56where you remotely hack into the drone using the radio signal,
01:59and then by exploiting known problems in the software, you can take control and force it to land or crash.
02:04But Palmer pointed out the potential Achilles heel for both of these first two methods.
02:09All they have to do to bypass that is use a different brand of drone, use a different brand of
02:12radio,
02:12use a different frequency, or build a drone that doesn't even need those frequencies in the first place.
02:17Basically, by using something besides the most popular consumer drones and frequencies means this would have no effect.
02:23Method number three is high-powered lasers, where you basically just heat up the outside surface of the drone so
02:28high that it catches fire.
02:30And this works pretty well against plastic drone casings, but once again, there's a weakness.
02:35What if I just hang a five-cent pie tin? It takes orders of magnitude more energy to burn through
02:41a metal reflective pie tin? It just doesn't work.
02:43The next method is a focused beam of microwave energy like an EMP.
02:47The goal here is to induce a current in the drone electronics so high that it fries the brain of
02:52the drone.
02:53But as Palmer explained, all a bad guy has to do to mitigate this is to buy some cheap copper
02:57tape from Home Depot,
02:58and once you cover the body of the drone, it becomes practically invisible to this attack.
03:04He can reduce the amount of power that gets to the internal electronics from an EMP by orders of magnitude.
03:09And that means a microwave beam gun that was previously able to fry a drone at 2,000 meters away,
03:15now only works if that copper-taped drone is two meters away.
03:19So now the beam gun is basically useless.
03:22Coming in at number five are nets fired in the air from other drones.
03:25And this makes sense if you're trying to capture the bad drone for forensic investigation.
03:29But net carrying drones by default are going to be slower and less maneuverable,
03:34so they're beatable with speed and agility.
03:36Now all this would be real bad news were it not for the sixth method that even works if you
03:40designed
03:41a super drone that combined all the tricks to defeat methods one through five.
03:45And it's possibly the oldest method of destruction known to man.
03:51Smashing stuff.
03:55And because this method is so foolproof, Andrew makes a blazing fast drone appropriately called
04:01Anvil, whose only job is to use kinetic energy to bust up a dangerous drone into thousands of pieces.
04:08Imagine a children's bowling ball thrown twice as fast as a major league baseball fastball.
04:15That's what it's like getting hit by Anvil.
04:17And so naturally after hearing all of this, I wanted to see it in action.
04:20So they took me out to their test grounds where they set up a scenario where a bad guy drone
04:25was
04:25zooming towards our position.
04:27Thank goodness we got Anvil.
04:28Now they immediately identified the drone even before it had taken off.
04:32And that's due to the towers you see here.
04:34Each tower has sensors on it, such as radar, optical cameras, or IR detectors.
04:39And then they use computer vision, machine learning, and AI to detect, classify, and track everything of interest in a
04:45designated area.
04:46It's so precise, in fact, it will actually identify and track every single bird on the test range.
04:52They call this software system Lattice, and it's the real secret sauce at the core of their company.
04:58So what we do is we detect a drone, classify what it is, and if it's something that Anvil needs
05:01to go after,
05:02let's say you try to jam it, you try to hack it, it doesn't work, you now launch Anvil.
05:07Oh, here it goes.
05:08Anvil immediately zoomed out to the bad guy drone, but importantly, it didn't engage.
05:13Instead, it just locked into position about 30 meters underneath it, perfectly mirroring the
05:18other drone's movements, turn for turn, just waiting for a human operator to give the go-ahead
05:23to use its terminal guidance sensors to close the gap and attack from below, smashing into the drone
05:28at speeds approaching 200 miles an hour.
05:32Now besides just Anvil, they have other systems too, such as Roadrunner here, which is designed to
05:36take out faster and larger drones where you would typically have to fire a Patriot missile.
05:41But unlike a Patriot missile, Roadrunner costs an order of magnitude less, and if you just scare
05:46off the threat without needing to engage, then it could come back to be reused for another time.
05:51Ultimately, Anvil is taking the SpaceX approach to using cutting-edge engineering to make things
05:56way more capable for way less money, and you know they're doing something right because they have
06:01some portion of their solutions currently implemented in a lot of different places.
06:05Southern border, northern border, national parks, military bases around critical infrastructure,
06:10around nuclear energy sites, there's a lot of sensitive places where you don't want to
06:14have no idea who's there and what they might be doing.
06:17So now that we've got a handle on how the pros do drone defense, the question you're probably
06:21wondering is how would Mark Rober do drone defense? And I think the answer is it would probably look
06:26something like this. A seven foot tall, fully articulated mega turret that fires a six-shooter
06:32barrel worth of pre-loaded mega darts. And so to properly test out how effective this was, I called
06:37three of my engineering buddies who also came up with their own ideas on how they would tackle the
06:42problem, and it sort of turned into a four-person backyard engineering competition. So in addition to
06:46my mega turret, their designs might include a fully electrified drone squirt gun, a vortex cannon that
06:52could do some real damage, and even a very scrappy system that does a little of its own autonomous
06:57drone tracking. But for context on our bootstrapped engineering showdown, it's important that I first
07:01let you know about a super secret project I've been working on for over two years, because ever since
07:06I launched Crunch Labs, the biggest bit of feedback was that this is great for kids to have a bunch
07:11of
07:11fun learning how to create and build, but what about something for teenagers and adults? Well I'm happy to
07:15say that starting today, that exists now. And this is it! It's called Hackpack, and it's basically a
07:22series of really fun programmable robots that get delivered right to your door, where we build it
07:26together and learn step by step the kinds of engineering skills that go into making the builds
07:31on my channel. And don't be intimidated because all these use a programmable microcontroller as the
07:36brain. Because if you can put together a lego set, you can put together this, and it will work
07:41right out of the box. No programming required, and it will still be really fun. Heck yeah! Meaning for
07:48the first desktop turret robot, it works just like my mega turret, where the IR remote can spin it 360
07:54degrees, and you can fire the six shooter barrel worth of preloaded darts, either one at a time,
07:59or rapid fire. After which you just refill the magnetic snap-on barrel cartridge. And then for the next
08:04box, you'll be building this awesome domino robot that will follow any line you put on the ground,
08:08and lay down a path of dominoes right on that path. But then it knows to stop for a refill
08:14when it runs
08:14out. After that, you've got this oversized custom label maker that works using just a sharpie and a
08:21roll of masking tape, or this beautiful sand garden controlled with the polar gantry. But here's the
08:26thing that makes these totally different, and this is the real magic of Hackpack. You can easily hack
08:32the brains of any of these robots in a bunch of ways to completely level up the functionality. So for
08:38example, for the desktop turret, you can make it password protected, so only you can control it,
08:42and if your friend tries and gets it wrong, the robot's gonna let him know that. Or there's a
08:46party mode, sort of like pie face, where everyone sits around the table, and it will spin around
08:50as it terrifyingly plays with your emotions. Or you can hack it so when your dad turns on the tv,
08:56the receiver picks up on that signal and autonomously turns to his chair to unload the full barrel of
09:01darts. But there's even hardware hacks too, so it can continuously scan your office, and if you add a
09:06proximity sensor to detect an intruder, it will give them six convincing rapid-fire reasons to
09:12get the heck out. And so all these cool ideas act as a motivator for you to check out the
09:16web-based
09:16coding module where you can plug in your robot brain and make any of these updates. And when you're
09:21there, you'll see there's three levels. At level one, the code is fully locked down, and you can only
09:26swap out the full code for verified new hacks, like the passcode hack. At level two, you can now change
09:31some key variables, like how quickly the barrel turns, or how many numbers to put in your passcode
09:36lock. And then at level three, you have full access to change everything. And since my goal
09:40is to take you from wherever you're currently at and then level you up, there's a community where
09:44you can post questions, as well as an AI chatbot named Mark Robot that will check your code for you
09:49and help you implement your most creative ideas. And each really slick-looking hack pack box that gets
09:54delivered to your door not only includes a video for me that shows you how to put it together,
09:57but each video also gives you a new juicy nugget about the tools I use to build and code stuff,
10:03so you can grow your creative engineering brain muscles one step at a time. We put up the lid
10:08sticker instruction video for this first box, plus a 20-minute Arduino crash course on the Crunch Labs
10:13YouTube channel, so you can see for yourself that we're not cutting any corners. Just like with my
10:18YouTube videos, I love taking complicated things and making them simple, and that's what we've done here.
10:23So if you've always wanted to learn to code, this is for you. But if you're a master coder and
10:27builder,
10:27this is also for you, because this is a community. So I'll absolutely be looking for the most
10:32impressively ridiculous hacks and modifications, and then we'll be sure all the other subscribers
10:37see them so they can be inspired to make their own hacks. And hack pack is a great activity to
10:42do with
10:42friends and family, or even just by yourself, if you've always wanted to make and build cool stuff,
10:47but just haven't figured out that first step. On top of all that, a couple times a year,
10:51I'll randomly be selecting one box in which I'll place the Platinum Diploma. And if your box has it,
10:57congratulations, because college is now free for you or a loved one you want to transfer it to. Plus,
11:03you get to come out to Crunch Labs and brainstorm some of your own ideas with me and my team
11:08for a day.
11:08So if you want to embark on this journey of discovery with me, just go to crunchlabs.com,
11:12or use the link in the video description, where to say thank you, we're giving away one free box
11:16as an early subscriber special. We poured our hearts into these for over two years,
11:22and I am so confident your brain is going to love them. But supplies are definitely limited on this
11:27first run, so if you don't want to miss out, be sure to go check out that link in the
11:30video
11:31description. And with that, let's get to the competition. Gentlemen, what's the confidence
11:34level at? Here. Maybe like here? Can I have a shovel? That's the sound of an engineer who has not
11:39got a lot of sleep this week. I'm excited to face off my turret versus your turret. Your turret actually
11:44shoots things. How do you know what mine is? It's right there. Oh, that thing.
11:50It's controllable with a hack pack turret remote. No, I'm sorry. Move it that way.
11:56Lucky for the boys, the turret got distracted as the first drone took to the sky, pausing at a height
12:01where only a mega turret could possibly bring it down. I could absolutely hit that with a rock.
12:06And while that might be true for the average person, none of us are exactly first to be picked in
12:13gym
12:13class type material. At any rate, it was time to see what this bad boy could do. Let me line
12:19it up.
12:19Hold on. Oh yeah, that's looking good. Three, two, one.
12:28That was pretty cool. Yeah. But you missed. Dang it.
12:39This is the one. I can feel it. Three, two, one.
12:46Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Wait, it's okay. What? The drone recovered. That was so cool. That drone is so much
12:59more impressive than the turret.
13:00But lucky for me, the definitely not made up on the spot rules state that if a dart makes
13:05contact with the drone, you get one final bonus shot.
13:14The mega turret had secured. It's dead. A mega hit. Check it out. You actually did.
13:20Yeah. What's up now? Let's see you guys beat this.
13:26Question is, which one of you guys wants to try and top that? Me. Me. Oh God.
13:31First up, we've got Kevin. Where's Kevin? He's, uh, oh.
13:36Yee-haw! Woo-hoo! Yee-haw! Kevin!
13:41Yeah! Yeah! Coming for your drones!
13:43This feels like it's bigger than necessary. Whoa!
13:47This is the V-Rad cannon. Avian defense turret.
13:55Avian defense? So what, you scare birds with that? Yeah, and shoot down drones.
13:59And this concept was actually invented 200 years ago by farmers shooting it at hail clouds in the sky
14:04to try and save their crops. But then they found a far less speculative application was just to shoot
14:09it towards birds to scare them away from eating all the seeds in the field.
14:13You're gonna look so silly if the drone doesn't get shot down with this thing, Kevin. Giddy up.
14:17And when you mix just the right amount of oxygen and propane in the combustion chamber,
14:22and then give it a spark, you basically get a single shot rocket engine.
14:26Three, two, one, fire!
14:32Fire! Wow, Kevin. Real impressive.
14:41And it absolutely destroyed the drone.
14:45Oh my god! It, like, actually totally died. Wow.
14:49That looked like a really good way to kill a drone, actually. That was really good.
14:53And that's when we realized it was also a great way to play a certain game called chicken.
14:58Bring it on! And if you think for a second we were scared to stand before this gigantic cannon...
15:04Why are we doing this? I mean, you're right. But what's even more scary...
15:08Oh my god! Wait, it's like a jet flying overhead.
15:14...was doing it over and over again until it found its aim.
15:18Oh! Why was it right? It's coming up towards us.
15:21Oh my god! I hope it blows your hat off and we can see what you're hiding under there.
15:33Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! It got my head!
15:46It's still going!
15:50Oh my god!
15:53And in our game of chicken, we were definitely prepared to get much closer to the cannon like
15:57these guys. But we ran out of jet fuel, so sadly, we had to move on.
16:01This is my invention. This is a Tesla coil. You know when you rub your feet on a carpet and
16:06you get
16:07a spark? Yeah, I know. This is like a billion times more powerful than that. Three, two, one! Tesla coil!
16:17And if it was a contest for coolest visuals?
16:20Wow! See, that's pretty cool, right?
16:22Alan definitely would have won right on the spot, but it wasn't.
16:26I feel like that's not going to get a drone.
16:28All right, here's my real plan. Salty, electrically conductive goo.
16:33Is that legal? What in the world is this?
16:36So this is xanthan gum and salt. It should conduct electricity. That nozzle is going to
16:41shoot a stream of goo, so when it touches the drone, it's going to fry it. Well, it's just salty
16:46protein, and it's thick. It's safe to say I had reservations about pretty much all of this.
16:52Tesla coil on!
16:54As predicted, the coil on its own had nowhere near the range to hit the drone.
16:58Goose stream on!
16:59Oh! Oh! Wow! Why is it so low? That's no good!
17:06And it seemed like the goo wouldn't either, but after a little pressure adjustment...
17:10There we go! There we go!
17:11...the electric goo gun made contact.
17:14Oh, come on! Oh, yes! Yes!
17:18And it appeared like Alan had taken it out for good.
17:22Whoa! Still, like, trying to be alive.
17:26There was no way to salvage things here, so sadly...
17:29Use your heel, Mark, in one solid hit.
17:31This feels wrong.
17:33We had to put the little guy out of his misery.
17:35No, Mark! Mark, it's still twitching again!
17:39I'm so sorry!
17:41Goodbye, little fella.
17:43No!
17:46I said goodbye.
17:49May your microchips forever rest in the watery depths below.
17:52And that's how you kill a drone.
17:53The light's still on.
17:56Oh, no!
17:57All right, Will, I think it's your turn.
17:59It's this.
18:01Drone in a fog machine!
18:03Wait, and special effects?
18:05I didn't know he could order a fog!
18:07But out of the fog, William's creation gloriously emerged.
18:12Sort of.
18:12I want you to hold on to that.
18:14Wait.
18:14And this was the point where I realized Will's drone had taken a sudden interest in what I was holding.
18:19I suddenly feel unsafe!
18:21It's looking at you!
18:22Run away, Mark! Run away!
18:24And it was totally tracking me.
18:26Until it was.
18:27I did finish it just 30 minutes ago!
18:29Will had very ambitiously taken the androal approach of attempting to actively track the target drone.
18:35Ultimately, his hunting drone was using eight overlapping photo detectors to look for a specific IR source on the target
18:42drone I was holding.
18:43And then it would keep itself oriented in the direction where that signal was the strongest.
18:48You have to attach this thing to the target drone for your drone to know where it is?
18:52Uh, yeah.
18:53I mean, how's it going to take it down?
18:55By smashing into it!
18:57Let's do it!
18:58And this is where Will brought in his secret weapon, Peter Shreepel.
19:02But to be fair, all Peter was actually doing was hitting the gas pedal on the drone at the right
19:07time.
19:07All the other choices were being made autonomously by the drone itself.
19:10Okay, I'm taking off, and then we're going autonomous.
19:13All right, so it's hunting!
19:16Whoa, it's going to the drone!
19:16It's hunting the drone!
19:18Run!
19:18Oh!
19:19Oh!
19:19Oh, I missed!
19:20Oh, boy.
19:21Oh, it's coming back!
19:22Okay.
19:23Go!
19:24It reminds me of like, toro!
19:26Toro!
19:29Oh!
19:32That looked pretty good.
19:33But after a series of near misses, the hunter got serious.
19:38Oh!
19:39Oh!
19:39Whoa!
19:40Oh, you're near tonight!
19:42Smashing into the drone for the final kill of the night, and taking a much deserved victory lap.
19:48Wow, round of applause!
19:53That was cool.
19:54Time to announce the winner of the drone defense derby.
19:56I'm going to decide, since this is my channel.
19:58And honestly, I got to give this one to William.
20:01Yeah!
20:02As much as I hate to say it, but I deserve it!
20:06From an engineering standpoint, it's very, very impressive.
20:10And your prize?
20:10You get three hack packs.
20:13Whoa!
20:15Now you guys can, you know, hone those engineering skills in.
20:19And so if you too want to hone your own engineering skills, or heck, even just begin to learn some
20:23basic building skills in the easiest way possible while having a ton of fun at the same time,
20:28be sure to check out that link in the video description to crunchlabs.com to get your
20:32free hack pack box as the early adopter special.
20:59So keep going.
21:17And if you want to be on a screen with the slides, then you'll see how you can move the
21:18So I'm going to tell you in the next video, the video description will be on the screen.
21:18If you're not talking a little bit, I'll be right back.
21:18And I'll be in the next video.
21:18You
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