Future Technology

SIX ‘STAR WARS’ TECHNOLOGIES THAT MAY NOT BE SO FAR, FAR AWAY

Roll-y droid

The spherical soccer-ball-looking droid from the trailer has already become an Internet favorite, but you don’t have to venture to Tatooine to find something similar. The $100 Sphero is a robot ball that you can control from your smartphone or tablet. It can navigate obstacle courses and change colors, and it’s even programmable. And while it might not be able help you with your next jump to hyperspace, it’s not likely to cause quite as much trouble as your average R2 unit.

Landspeeder

Ever since the original Star Wars movies debuted, the hot-rodding enthusiasts among us have salivated over the prospects of zipping over the ground in our own repulsorlift-powered vehicle. While true landspeeders and speeder bikes might still be a ways off, there is (a new) hope. The previously mentioned Drone 3 hoverbike isn’t big enough yet to fly a real person around, but its maker, Malloy Aeronautics, has been hard at work trying to develop the world’s first flying motorcycle. And they’re not the only company working on it either; aerospace firm Aerofex has even been testing its own hoverbikes in the Mojave desert. With this many interested parties, we’re holding out hope that it won’t be too long before we’re ready for some souped-up drag-racing.

X-Wings

It may lack something of the compact size or sleek lines of the Incom T-65 Space Superiority Fighter, but Elon Musk’s SpaceX project bears at least a superficial resemblance to the iconic Star Wars snubfighter (which also makes a striking water-skimming appearance in the new trailer). The company’s Falcon 9 (wonder where they got that name *ahem*) rocket uses “hypersonic grid fins” in an “x-wing” configuration to help stabilize it upon landing. No word yet on its ability to take down a Death Star, should that need arise. (Granted, who besides Elon Musk would actually be likely to build a Death Star?)

Lightsabers

Who hasn’t wanted to wield their own lightsaber? Certainly not your humble correspondent, who may have built his own custom model last time he visited Disneyland. While the laser swords wielded by the Jedi Knights may still be more science fiction than reality, scientists from Harvard and MIT have managed to construct “molecules” out of light, which could allow them to actually build “objects” out of photons, rather than instead having them simply pass through each other. Great, as long as you don’t mind having your lightsaber duels at sub-atomic levels. In the meantime, check out this handy guide to building your own LED-powered model at home. We’re sure a T-shaped upgrade is right around the corner.

Laser cannons

Lightsabers may be fiction, but laser-based weapons are firmly in the realm of fact. The U.S. Navy already has one deployed on an active warship, the USS Ponce. The Laser Weapon System (LaWS) is primarily designed for combatting aerial threats, such as drones. Unlike Star Wars‘s blasters, though, real-world lasers are a little less impressive to look at; you won’t see any red or green bolts shooting into the targets. Instead, LaWS essentially burns holes in its targets by keeping the high-powered laser trained on them for long periods of time. In other words, Greedo would have had to sit still a lot longer in order for Han to shoot first.

Space travel for all

Okay, nobody’s even remotely close to duplicating the Millennium Falcon, a.k.a. the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. That doesn’t stop me from wanting one, complete with Wookiee co-pilot. Consumer space travel has been around for a few decades now, provided you’re among the super-rich, but the recent tragic crash of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo may signal a setback for those of us who want a taste of the astronaut lifestyle. However, arecent deal between Boeing, NASA, and space tourism firm Space Adventuresmight open the door for trips to outer space. But they still aren’t going to be cheap, and you’re probably not going to make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Making sense of wearables

We have seen the new category of “wearable technology” generate great hype and headlines over the past few years. There was the initial hysteria over the launch of Google Glass, then Facebook’s March announcement of its $2bn acquisition of virtual reality headset-manufacturer Oculus Rift, and now Apple has entered the fray with the announcement of its Watch. But despite the presence of these giants making their first forays into this new high-tech field, people actually wearing the devices has so far been restricted to only the most staunch tech-devotees. In fact, most current devices do not make sense as useful and necessary additions to our everyday life.

So far, while agreeing that wearable represent technology at its most cutting edge, reviewers across the board have found it difficult to convince the public why the devices are more than just expensive gimmicks. In the form that they exist today, wearables remain very much in the experimental phase of tech development, with many limitations remaining. Unless connected to wi-fi, the majority of wearables currently on the market are reliant on being tethered to a smartphone. Interesting content is another issue: most wearables’ apps are an identikit or cut-down version of their smartphone counterpart, with the only real advantage being one of slightly more convenient access. The result leaves the wearable as little more than an expensive and unintelligent piece of plastic.