Tech Corner: Star Wars Technology that Exist Today!
Mandy Mac
It is the day we have all been waiting for! Star Wars: The Force Awakens has hit theaters! In celebration of our excitement, joy, happy tears, and nerd dances, we wanted to discuss the technology that was seen in the movies, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, and what can actually be found on this planet today!
Holograms: One of Star Wars’ iconic special effect, their version of a video text message on steroids, can actually be found today. And it is used for much more than just bring Tupac back from the dead. Holograms is printed light thousands of times per second, tricking the human eye into thinking what it is seeing is three dimensional image. There are companies that are improving on this technology so it can be used for 3-D movies, teaching the classrooms, even for concerts.
The X-Wing: Elon Musk has acquired a bit of a resume; he is an engineer, inventor and investor, who is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, and chairman of SolarCity, as well as co-chairman of OpenAI. As if that is not enough, he will soon be bring X-Wing aircrafts to life! SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket uses hypersonic grid fins in an X-Wing pattern, helping the rocket stabilize during landing. This may not be exactly what you were hoping for when we said the X-Wing exist in real life, but, HEY! We gotta start somewhere.
Lasers: Star Wars uses no bullets in the movies. Instead, they have laser weapons, and now, so will the U.S Navy. Sitting on the top of the USS Ponce is a laser weapon system. It is a powerful defensive weapon, used to take down drones and boats by burning through with its laser beam. We are also glad that the Navy has been aim with their laser weapon than any Stormtrooper, ever.
Speeder Bikes: Ever since the Return of the Jedi, we have been dreaming to race around on a hover speed bike. Malloy Aeronautics has invented a prototype hoverbike. The Drone 3 hoverbike has four routers that create a lift off the ground. The are not the only company either; Aerospace engineering from AeRoFaCTs has created a space-age looking hoverbike, that can actually be ridden by humans! As of now, it has only been tested at 30mph at 15 feet high, officially making it a hoverbike! The company’s aim to release the first commercial version in 2017 for $85,000. Better start saving our spare change now.
Robot hands: It is a common thing to happen in the Star Wars movies, but no need to lose your head over it too! Yes, we are talking to you CP30. Robot hands are now a thing today. Prosthetic advantages allow the user to control to their prosthetics and provide direct sensory feedback by interfacing directly with the users nerves. Basically, they connect a robot hand to their nerves and they can use it like a normal hand! While this is still early days, but it is only a matter of time when it will be fully functional. Until then, we can still continue to admire Robert Downey Jr. and that time he gave a kid an Iron Man prosthetic hand.
Well, that is all we have for now. Patiently waiting for the lightsabers to exist. What is your favorite Star Wars technology and which would you like to see come to life? Let’s discuss by joining our conversation on Facebook and Twitter!
