From invisibility cloaks to robots with senses, the technology in our favourite science fiction films may not be as far away as we think.
Science fiction films have always excited audiences and appealed to their sense of escapism. Whether this be in the form of space exploration, a world dominated by robots, time travel or monsters and magic, the genre knows no bounds.
Many of these films hinge on brilliant and complex technologies, like the space ships in the Star Trek series or the killer robots in Terminator. Now due to recent advances, the impressive technology we see in these fictional films could soon become a reality.
The Invisibility Cloak
The Invisible Man was first made in 1933 and is still one of the most famous tales in science fiction. The ability to make objects and people invisible has since cropped up time and time again, the most recent occurrence being in the Harry Potter films, as the young magician owns an invisibility cloak.
Last week the BBC reported that a flexible metamaterial has been developed which could bring us one step closer to creating a cloak just like Harry’s. The tiny structures that make up the new metamaterial have the ability to manipulate light in a way that scientists claim could make objects invisible because of their unique flexibility.
Ortwin Hess, a physicist who works with metamaterials at Imperial College London called the new work “a huge step forward in very many ways,” but commented that, “it clearly isn’t an invisibility cloak yet – but it’s the right step toward that.”
3D Holographic Telepresence
In the first Star Wars film Princess Leia beams a 3D holographic message to Obi-Wan Kenobi. A visit to your local electronics store will tell you that huge strides have been made in the realms of 3D viewing.
Online technology magazine Spectrum recently reported that the kind of 3D technology used by Princess Leia is being pioneered by researchers at the University of Arizona. The new holographic display will be able to show 3D colour images of someone who’s in a remote location, with images of them being updated every two seconds.
Dr. Nasser Peyghambarian who led the research, said this is a big step toward holographic telepresence, which means, “we can record a three-dimensional image in one location and show it in another location, in real time, anywhere in the world.” Not only will this have a huge affect on entertainment, but Peyghambarian suggested the possibility of “telemedicine” in the future, which means medical procedures can be carried out regardless of location.
Robots with Human Brains
In The Telegraph this month, Kevin Warwick professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, claims that robots with human brains could be a reality in the next ten years.
At the moment his team have been able to grow a brain using rat brain cells and hook this up to a little robot ‘body’. The video on the The Telegraph website shows the robot moving around and stimulating the brain which then makes decisions to move the robot in different ways in response to the stimuli, Warwick says this is the brain learning from habit and its experiences.
He now intends to move on from rat brain cells and predicts, “in ten years we’re going to see robots around the home with biological brains, maybe even brains made from human brain cells.”
Interactive Advertising
In Steven Speilberg’s Minority Report, Tom Cruise has a pretty horrific eye transplant in order to evade being found by the authorities. However, in the film the creepy mechanical spiders weren’t the only things that could find out a person’s identity by looking into their peepers, so could the highly advanced and receptive advertising.
In September, The Guardian reported that digital billboards are being tested in Japan which are tailored to the shoppers that pass by. Produced by electronics giant NEC, the ads use facial recognition software and can identify the shopper’s gender, ethnicity and approximate age. The software will then tailor the advertising depending on the shopper’s demographic.
Admittedly many of these technologies are far from what we’re used to seeing at the cinema. But, it’s exciting to see things that we associate with the realm of fantasy and science fiction being created and developed in the real world. It’ll be interesting to see how these ideas develop, if at all, and what impact they have on our futures.
Becca Caddy is a BitchBuzz Tech columnist and freelance writer for Reputation Online, New Media Age’s spin-off publication.You can follow her on Twitter @beccacaddy.
Production still from Minority Report © 20th Century Fox