Aside from intergalactic warfare, family issues and annoying furry creatures one thing that always stands out and captures the imagination is the technology. How I’ve dreamt of one day owning my own Millennium Falcon that I could hop from planet to planet in willy nilly. Obviously, we are nowhere near that level of advancement yet but there are some parts of the Star Wars universe that have become, or are becoming, a reality.
Droids
Whilst our droids are not quite at the levels of R2D2 and C3PO, many factories are using robotics in manufacturing and engineering processes today. Personal robots are also available to buy and have around your home. When it went on sale in summer 2015, Pepper was hailed as the first emotional robot. Its makers, Aldebaran, claimed that Pepper can analyse your facial expressions, body language and speech, then changed its behaviour according to your mood. With the advancement of AI and technology, it won’t be long before we start seeing the kind of droids ‘we are looking for’
Holograms
Many key points in the movie franchise centre around information stored in holograms. Leias call for help, the map to find Luke and the structural plans for the Death Star all appear in hologram format. Many other films have also played with holographic displays as a medium for communicating or displaying information. The closest we have now would be the hologram music tours of deceased stars like Michael Jackson however, lots of innovative types of displays are currently being developed. There is a holographic style display that produces an image very similar to that of the Star Wars calibre, however it currently relies on the viewers facial movements to project the image and only works with one person at a time so there is still a bit of a way to go on that one.
Bionics
After having his hand chopped off by Darth Vader, Luke is fitted with a nifty bionic hand so he can continue his journey to becoming a fully-fledged Jedi. Prosthetic limbs have been around for a long time but advances in technology mean we are now seeing state-of-the-art robotic limbs that can move multiple joints at the same time and others that operate using the thoughts of the operator alone by picking up on the brains electrical signals. Whilst these developments are getting better, they’re not quite up to the job of being able to participate in Lightsabre duels.
Hover Cars & Bikes
Drone technology is bringing us closer to flying cars. Dubai are already testing out hover bikes for the police with the hope of introducing them into usage in the very near future. There have even been instances of hobbyists creating their own hoverbikes in their garages too. Although we are currently only using quadcopter technology as opposed to the ‘repulsor fields’ (a kind-of antigravity) used by the Landspeeders in Star Wars, the reality of hover vehicles is getting closer by the day.
Lasers
Be it the Laser Cannons on the Imperial Star Destroyers, Hans pistol or a very snazzy Lightsaber, lasers are a very prominent feature in the Star Wars universe. In 2013, Harvard University researchers managed to make photons of light behave like a lightsaber, by manipulating them so they acted as a solid. However, ‘lightsabers’ made in this way would just bounce off each other. The same applies to laser cannons, the U.S. Navy already has an operational ship-based laser cannon, and the U.S. Army’s ATHENA system recently shot down five drones in tests. However, these lasers don’t go ‘pew pew’ like in the movies and fire a bright green beam of light.
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