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| From hoverboards to lightsabers: five film inventions in the works | From hoverboards to lightsabers: five film inventions in the works |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Important as they surely are, news of most manufacturing advances passes us by, mainly on account of it being so boring that reading about it will make you want to cry. Not so for news from Daewoo's shipbuilding factory in South Korea, which has announced that it plans to equip its workers with full-body robotic exoskeletons to aid with heavy lifting. Do you see what this means? We're now tantalisingly close to a real, tangible, functioning power-loaders from Aliens. This is a wonderful time to be alive. | |
| New technologies have long turned up on the big screen before they've become reality. Star Trek communicators predated mobile phones by a good 20 years, while bionic limbs, video calling, touchscreen technology and CCTV were all predicted with eerie accuracy in the Mystic Meggian annals of sci-fi. With this in mind, what else is possible? How close we are to other sci-fi inventions we've spent decades pining for? Time to ask science. | New technologies have long turned up on the big screen before they've become reality. Star Trek communicators predated mobile phones by a good 20 years, while bionic limbs, video calling, touchscreen technology and CCTV were all predicted with eerie accuracy in the Mystic Meggian annals of sci-fi. With this in mind, what else is possible? How close we are to other sci-fi inventions we've spent decades pining for? Time to ask science. |
| Hoverboard | Hoverboard |
| Attempts to replicate Marty McFly's futuristic, floaty fun plank have yielded mixed results. An inventor in Phoenix, Arizona has cobbled together a prototype that is, frankly, a bit of a letdown – it's a mini hovercraft with rubbish stabilisers, but one that suggests the technology could be acceptably refined. More intriguing is the Mag Surf, developed by people in white coats with pockets ostentatiously festooned with pens, which is based on excitingly Back to the Future-type things such as superconductors, and flux tubes. This only works with a track, admittedly, but it's not far off. The coolest attempt, though, which has little in common with McFly's board, but still makes you want one, has to be this aquatic version. For now, it's probably the best you can do. | |
| How far away is it? On water, around £1,600 away. | How far away is it? On water, around £1,600 away. |
| Robot servant/friend/nemesis/overlord | Robot servant/friend/nemesis/overlord |
| Although roughly three quarters of all science fiction is a dire warning of the destruction that will be wrought upon humanity by our own nut-nutted creations, humans continue to make the robot servant a reality. Mechanically, we're already there: driverless cars, Siri, Facebook ad-targeting algorithms that can pick at your most private insecurities. And then there are things such as the 6ft 2in, 23.5-stone Atlas robot, which looks like it would be as happy shouting "Danger, Will Robinson!" as it would folding your skeleton up like a bony accordion and punting it over the nearest alp. Combine these technologies and you've got an invincible metal chum who will happily walk your dog. Throw in even a slight distaste of humanity and we're all basically doomed. | Although roughly three quarters of all science fiction is a dire warning of the destruction that will be wrought upon humanity by our own nut-nutted creations, humans continue to make the robot servant a reality. Mechanically, we're already there: driverless cars, Siri, Facebook ad-targeting algorithms that can pick at your most private insecurities. And then there are things such as the 6ft 2in, 23.5-stone Atlas robot, which looks like it would be as happy shouting "Danger, Will Robinson!" as it would folding your skeleton up like a bony accordion and punting it over the nearest alp. Combine these technologies and you've got an invincible metal chum who will happily walk your dog. Throw in even a slight distaste of humanity and we're all basically doomed. |
| How far away is it? It's behind you. | How far away is it? It's behind you. |
| Lightsaber | Lightsaber |
| The problem with swords made of light is that, by its nature, light is massless – it will simply pass through other light like an appalling coward, instead of colliding with it with a satisfactory "bwwwooOOUumm-TSSSK". Scientists at the MIT Centre for Ultracold Atoms, in Massachusetts, recognise the problem of light's irritating pacifism and are taking important steps to correct it. By manipulating photons, they've discovered a way of making them react with and deflect each other, essentially forming a new type of matter. | The problem with swords made of light is that, by its nature, light is massless – it will simply pass through other light like an appalling coward, instead of colliding with it with a satisfactory "bwwwooOOUumm-TSSSK". Scientists at the MIT Centre for Ultracold Atoms, in Massachusetts, recognise the problem of light's irritating pacifism and are taking important steps to correct it. By manipulating photons, they've discovered a way of making them react with and deflect each other, essentially forming a new type of matter. |
| As far as an actual lightsaber is concerned, scientists postulate that this technique could conceivably be used to form 3D structures made of light. So lightsabers are, theoretically, possible in the distant future. But for now this technique is much more likely to assist in quantum computing than relieving idiots of their appendages. | As far as an actual lightsaber is concerned, scientists postulate that this technique could conceivably be used to form 3D structures made of light. So lightsabers are, theoretically, possible in the distant future. But for now this technique is much more likely to assist in quantum computing than relieving idiots of their appendages. |
| How far away is it? Far, far away. | How far away is it? Far, far away. |
| Fully immersive virtual reality | Fully immersive virtual reality |
| While tech that allows us to directly interact with a virtual world with squelchy Scart leads is still in its infancy, with the right combination of devices you can have an immersive virtual reality experience in your own home today. VR headsets, on-the-spot running apparatus, force-feedback clothing and even, bizarrely, reactive prosthetic genitalia are all discoverable with an occasionally worrying internet search. The future is now. (You're going to google the genitalia right now aren't you? You disgusting beast.) | While tech that allows us to directly interact with a virtual world with squelchy Scart leads is still in its infancy, with the right combination of devices you can have an immersive virtual reality experience in your own home today. VR headsets, on-the-spot running apparatus, force-feedback clothing and even, bizarrely, reactive prosthetic genitalia are all discoverable with an occasionally worrying internet search. The future is now. (You're going to google the genitalia right now aren't you? You disgusting beast.) |
| How far away is it? Available today. While stocks last. | How far away is it? Available today. While stocks last. |
| Neuralizer | Neuralizer |
| Electroconvulsive therapy has, terrifyingly, made such huge strides since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest that it can now be used to target and erase memories of a traumatic episode. More worryingly, scientists at the University of California have discovered a method of using light to form, erase and then restore memories in rats. It's not a great leap to deduce therefore that you've almost certainly been brain-zapped hundreds of times and that precious memory of going on holiday last year is entirely fictitious. Probably. | Electroconvulsive therapy has, terrifyingly, made such huge strides since One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest that it can now be used to target and erase memories of a traumatic episode. More worryingly, scientists at the University of California have discovered a method of using light to form, erase and then restore memories in rats. It's not a great leap to deduce therefore that you've almost certainly been brain-zapped hundreds of times and that precious memory of going on holiday last year is entirely fictitious. Probably. |
| How far away is it? How far away is what? | How far away is it? How far away is what? |
| • Star Wars lightsabers finally invented• Killer robots in film – in pictures | • Star Wars lightsabers finally invented• Killer robots in film – in pictures |
| • This article was amended on 6 August, to correctly identify Aliens as the film that featured power-loaders. | • This article was amended on 6 August, to correctly identify Aliens as the film that featured power-loaders. |