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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
00:04find protecting you the next time you're at a public event. That's got a lot of
00:07people. And while this just might look like a boring old drone, it's actually
00:15one of the fastest in the world. It's autonomous and it weighs five times more
00:19than is typical because the purpose of this drone is to lock onto a bad guy
00:24drone trying to do bad guy things and then smash it into a thousand pieces.
00:28Now that drones have become so incredibly cheap, fast, and maneuverable, it's only
00:33a matter of time before they're used to carry explosives to attack key
00:37infrastructure or even worse. But before you get too worried, there's some good
00:41news here. And so today we're going to take a look at all the latest
00:44technologies being developed to combat this very possible scenario. And then
00:48after we see how the pros are doing it, we'll investigate how a few backyard
00:53YouTube engineers would handle the same problem. And I don't want to give too
00:56much away, but it might involve giant dart turrets, Tesla coil water guns, and the
01:01world's largest vortex cannon. Now to kick things off with the pros, I headed down to
01:05a company called Andro, who are one of the leaders when it comes to drone
01:09defense, where I met up with their founder Palmer Luckey, who by the way, you might
01:12recognize as the dude who dropped out of school at 19 years old to invent the
01:16Oculus VR headset. And right out of the gate, he set the stage.
01:19The United States has the ability to defend against fighter jet attacks or bomber
01:23invasions and zero ability to control what happens in the first few hundred
01:26feet of our airspace. That's the thing we have to solve. We have to tame the wild
01:28west. Palmer explained to me there are six primary ways to take out a drone with
01:32bad intentions, and every method has a major flaw except for number six. The
01:37first is jamming, where you just overwhelm the drone with fake radio signals so it
01:41can no longer hear the instructions from the human operator and they lose control. 70% of
01:46all consumer drones are from DJI, and they actually provide the equipment to law
01:50enforcement that will jam the communications like this. The second
01:53method to take out a drone with bad intentions is hacking, where you remotely
01:57hack into the drone using the radio signal, and then by exploiting known
02:00problems in the software, you can take control and force it to land or crash. But
02:04Palmer pointed out the potential Achilles heel for both of these first two
02:08methods. All they have to do to bypass that is use a different brand of drone, use
02:12different brand of radio, use a different frequency, or build a drone that doesn't even
02:15need those frequencies in the first place. Basically, by using something besides the
02:19most popular consumer drones and frequencies means this would have no
02:22effect. Method number three is high powered lasers, where you basically just
02:26heat up the outside surface of the drone so high that it catches fire. And this
02:30works pretty well against plastic drone casings. But once again, there's a
02:34weakness. What if I just hang a five-cent pie tin? It takes orders of magnitude more
02:39energy to burn through a metal reflective pie tin. It just doesn't work. The next
02:44method is a focused beam of microwave energy like an EMP. The goal here is to
02:48induce a current in the drone electronics so high that it fries the
02:52brain of the drone. But as Palmer explained, all a bad guy has to do to
02:55mitigate this is to buy some cheap copper tape from Home Depot, and once you
02:59cover the body of the drone, it becomes practically invisible to this attack. He
03:04can reduce the amount of power that gets to the internal electronics from an EMP
03:08by orders of magnitude. And that means a microwave beam gun that was
03:11previously able to fry a drone at 2,000 meters away now only works if that
03:16copper taped drone is two meters away. So now the beam gun is basically useless.
03:22Coming in at number five are nets fired in the air from other drones. And this
03:25makes sense if you're trying to capture the bad drone for forensic
03:28investigation. But net carrying drones by default are going to be slower and less
03:33maneuverable so they're beatable with speed and agility. Now all this would be
03:37real bad news were it not for the sixth method that even works if you designed a
03:41super drone that combined all the tricks to defeat Methods 1 through 5. And it's
03:46possibly the oldest method of destruction known to man.
03:51Smashing stuff.
03:55Because this method is so foolproof, Andriel makes a blazing fast drone
04:00appropriately called Anvil, whose only job is to use kinetic energy to bust up a
04:05dangerous drone into thousands of pieces. Imagine a children's bowling ball thrown
04:10twice as fast as a Major League Baseball fastball. That's what it's like getting
04:16hit by Anvil. So naturally after hearing all of this I wanted to see it in action. So
04:21they took me out to their test grounds where they set up a scenario where a bad
04:24guy drone was zooming towards our position. Thank goodness we got Anvil. Now
04:28they immediately identified the drone even before it had taken off and that's due to
04:32the towers you see here. Each tower has sensors on it such as radar, optical
04:37cameras, or IR detectors. And then they use computer vision, machine learning, and AI to
04:41detect, classify, and track everything of interest in a designated area. It's so
04:46precise in fact it will actually identify and track every single bird on the test
04:52range. They call this software system Lattice and it's the real secret sauce at
04:56the core of their company. So what we do is we detect a drone, classify what it is, and if
05:01it's
05:01something that Anvil needs to go after, let's say you try to jam it, you try to hack it, it
05:04doesn't
05:04work, you now launch Anvil. Oh here it goes. Anvil immediately zoomed out to the bad guy
05:11drone, but importantly it didn't engage. Instead it just locked into position about 30 meters
05:16underneath it, perfectly mirroring the other drone's movements turn for turn, just waiting
05:21for a human operator to give the go-ahead to use its terminal guidance sensors to close the gap and
05:26attack from below. Smashing into the drone at speeds approaching 200 miles an hour. Now besides
05:32use Anvil, they have other systems too, such as Roadrunner here, which is designed to take out
05:37faster and larger drones where you would typically have to fire a Patriot missile. But unlike a
05:42Patriot missile, Roadrunner costs an order of magnitude less, and if you just scare off the threat
05:47without needing to engage, then it could come back to be reused for another time. Ultimately,
05:52Andril is taking the SpaceX approach to using cutting edge engineering to make things way more
05:57capable for way less money. And you know they're doing something right because they have some
06:01portion of their solutions currently implemented in a lot of different places. Southern border,
06:06northern border, national parks, military bases around critical infrastructure, around nuclear energy
06:11sites, there's a lot of sensitive places where you don't want to have no idea who's there and what
06:17they might be doing. So now that we've got a handle on how the pros do drone defense, the question
06:21you're
06:21probably wondering is how would Mark Rober do drone defense? And I think the answer is it would
06:26probably look something like this. A seven foot tall, fully articulated mega turrets that fires a
06:32six shooter barrel worth of preloaded mega darts. And so to properly test out how effective this was,
06:37I called three of my engineering buddies who also came up with their own ideas on how they would tackle
06:41the problem and it sort of turned into a four person backyard engineering competition. So in addition to my
06:46mega 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,
07:15I'm happy to say that starting today, that exists now. And this is it. It's called Hackpack. And it's
07:21basically a series of really fun programmable robots that get delivered right to your door,
07:26where we build it together and learn step by step the kinds of engineering skills that go into making
07:31the builds on my channel. And don't be intimidated because all these use a programmable microcontroller
07:36as the brain. Because if you can put together a Lego set, you can put together this. And it will
07:40work
07:41right out of the box. No programming required, and it will still be really fun.
07:46Heck yeah! Meaning for the first desktop turret robot, it works just like my mega turret, where the
07:52IR remote can spin it 360 degrees, and you can fire the six-shooter barrel worth of preloaded darts,
07:58either one at a time or rapid fire. After which you just refill the magnetic snap-on barrel cartridge.
08:03And then for the next box, you'll be building this awesome domino robot that will follow any line
08:08you put on the ground and lay down a path of dominoes right on that path. But then it knows
08:12to stop for a refill when it runs out. After that, you've got this oversized custom label maker that
08:19works using just a sharpie and a roll of masking tape, or this beautiful sand garden controlled with
08:25the polar gantry. But here's the thing that makes these totally different. And this is the real magic of
08:30Hackpack. You can easily hack the brains of any of these robots in a bunch of ways to completely level
08:36up
08:36the functionality. So for example, for the desktop turret, you can make it password protected,
08:40so only you can control it. And if your friend tries and gets it wrong, the robot's gonna let
08:45him know that. Or there's a party mode, sort of like pie face, where everyone sits around the table,
08:49and it will spin around as it terrifyingly plays with your emotions. Or you can hack it so when your
08:55dad turns on the TV, the receiver picks up on that signal and autonomously turns to his chair to
09:00unload the full barrel of darts. But there's even hardware hacks too, so it can continuously scan your
09:05office. And if you add a proximity sensor to detect an intruder, it will give them six convincing
09:10rapid-fire reasons to get the heck out. So all these cool ideas act as a motivator for you to
09:16check
09:16out the web-based coding module where you can plug in your robot brain and make any of these updates.
09:21And when you're there, you'll see there's three levels. At level one, the code is fully locked down,
09:25and you can only swap out the full code for verified new hacks, like the passcode hack. At level two,
09:30you can now change some key variables, like how quickly the barrel turns, or how many numbers to
09:35put in your passcode lock. And then at level three, you have full access to change everything. And since
09:39my goal is 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,
09:58but 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
10:33impressively 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,
11:13or use the link in the video description, where to say thank you, we're giving away one free box
11:17as 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.
12:07And 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.
12:20Hold on. Oh yeah, that's looking good. Three, two, one.
12:29That was pretty cool. Yeah. But you missed. Dang it.
12:54The drone recovered from that. That was so cool. That drone is so much more impressive than the turret.
13:00But lucky for me, the definitely not made up on the spot rules state that if a dart makes contact
13:05with the drone, you get one final bonus shot.
13:14The mega turret had secured. It's dead. A mega hit. Check it out.
13:19You actually did. Yeah. 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! Yee-haw! Woo-hoo! Yee-haw!
13:40Kevin! Kevin! Yeah! Yeah! Coming for your drones!
13:44This feels like it's bigger than... Whoa! Necessary.
13:48This is the V-Rad cannon. Avian defense turret.
13:54Avian 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. You're gonna look so silly
14:15if the drone doesn't get shot down with this thing, Kevin. Giddy up! And when you mix just the right
14:19amount of oxygen and propane in the combustion chamber and then give it a spark, you basically get
14:24a single shot rocket engine. Three, two, one, fire!
14:32Fire! Wow, Kevin! Real impressive!
14:36Oh! God!
14:41And it absolutely destroyed the drone. Oh my god!
14:46Yeah! 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
14:58called chicken. Bring it on! And if you think for a second we were scared to stand before this gigantic
15:03cannon... Why are we doing this? I mean, you're right. But what's even more scary...
15:07Oh my god! Wait! It's like a jet flag overhead! Did it hit any of us?
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! Oh my god! I hope it blows your hat off
15:24and we can
15:25see what you're hiding under there. Oh! Oh! Oh! It got my head!
15:43Oh! Oh! It's still going! Oh 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 a spark? Yeah, I know. This is like a billion times more powerful than that.
16:10Three, two, one! Tesla coil!
16:17And if it was a contest for coolest visuals? Wow! See, that's pretty cool, right?
16:22Alan definitely would have won right on the spot, but it wasn't. I feel like that's not going to get
16:27a drone! All right, here's my real plan. Salty, electrically conductive goo.
16:33Is that legal? What in the world is this? So this is xanthan gum and salt. It should conduct
16:39electricity. That nozzle is going to shoot a stream of goo, so when it touches the drone,
16:44it's going to fry it. Well, it's just salty protein and it's thick. It's safe to say I had
16:50reservations about pretty much all of this. Tesla coil on! As predicted, the coil on its own had nowhere
16:56near the range to hit the drone. Goo stream on! Oh! Oh! Wow! Why is it so low? That's no
17:05good!
17:06And it seemed like the goo wouldn't either. But after a little pressure adjustment,
17:11the electric goo gun made contact. Oh, come on! Oh, yes!
17:18And it appeared like Alan had taken it out for good.
17:22Whoa! Still, like, trying to be alive! There was no way to salvage things here,
17:28so sadly... Use your heel, Mark, in one solid hit. This feels wrong!
17:33We had to put the little guy out of his misery. No, Mark! Mark, it's not eating again!
17:39I'm so sorry! Goodbye, little fella.
17:46I said goodbye. May your microchips forever rest in the watery depths below.
17:52And that's how you kill a drone! The light's still on!
17:56Oh, no! All right, Will, I think it's your turn. It's this.
18:01Drone in a fog machine! Wait, and special effects? I didn't know he could order a fog!
18:07But out of the fog, William's creation gloriously emerged. Sort of.
18:13I want you to hold on to that. Wait. And this was the point where I realized Will's drone had
18:17taken a sudden interest in what I was holding. I suddenly feel unsafe!
18:21It's looking at you! Run away, Mark! Run away!
18:24And it was totally tracking me. Until it was. I did finish it just 30 minutes ago!
18:30Will had very ambitiously taken the androal approach of attempting to actively track the
18:35target drone. Ultimately, his hunting drone was using eight overlapping photo detectors to look for
18:39a specific IR source on the target drone I was holding, and then it would keep itself oriented in
18:45the direction where that signal was the strongest. You have to attach this thing to the target drone
18:50for your drone and know where it is? Uh, yeah. I mean, how's it going to take it down?
18:55By smashing into it! Let's do it! And this is where Will brought in his secret weapon,
19:01Peter Shreepel. But to be fair, all Peter was actually doing was hitting the gas pedal on the
19:06drone at the right time. All the other choices were being made autonomously by the drone itself.
19:11Okay, I'm taking off and then we're going autonomous. All right, so it's hunting! It's hunting the drone!
19:17Run! Run! Oh! Oh! Oh, it missed! Oh, boy. Oh, it's coming back! Okay.
19:24Goal! It reminds me of like, Toro! Toro!
19:31Oh! That looked pretty good. But after a series of near misses,
19:36the hunter got serious, smashing into the drone for the final kill of the night, and taking a much
19:47deserved victory lap. Round of applause! That's cool. Time to announce the winner of the drone defense
19:56Derby. I'm going to decide, since this is my channel, and honestly, I got to give this one to William.
20:01Yeah! As much as I hate to say it, I deserve it! From an engineering standpoint, it's very,
20:09very impressive. And your prize? You get three hack packs! Whoa!
20:15Now you guys could, 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
20:23to learn some basic building skills in the easiest way possible while having a ton of fun at the same
20:28time, be sure to check out that link in the video description to crunchlabs.com to get your free
20:33hack pack box as the early adopter special.
21:18You
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