mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
It takes a while for a great idea to go from imagination to actual use in the real world, but it happens a lot! Three fictional gadgets made real were in the news just this past week.
Terminator Vision
The Terminator had a computer in his head, with a display readout he could read in his eyes. Several gadgets come close to doing this for humans, so far only while wearing glasses. The latest is the retinal imaging display (RID) from Brother Industries in Japan.
The new RID prototype attaches to a basic set of spectacles and works by focusing light onto the retina, moving it at high speeds to generate images that look like they exist right in front of the user. Too bad the source box is freaking enormous.
Brother plans to launch the product in 2010.
Wrist Communicator
Dick Tracy spoke into a two-way wrist radio beginning in 1946. A TV was added later. Starting today, you can order the Van Der Led WM2, which is a wristwatch with the functions you’d expect -clock, calendar, alarm, calculator, plus a cellphone with a touchscreen display, bluetooth, USB data transmission, hands-free speaker, MP3 and MP4 storage, etc etc, and it works with all providers in countries all over the world. Dick Tracy never had those kinds of features! And with a wrist phone, you don’t have to fumble through your purse or pockets for a ringing phone, or wonder where you last set it down. The cost: €300 or $471. It goes great with a yellow overcoat.
Suit of Strength
Iron Man hits theaters on May 2nd. The character is super strong because of his suit of iron. You should also remember the exoskeleton used in Alien. The real-life version is the work of software engineer Rex Jameson and his robotics company Sarcos. The XOS Exoskeleton moves well and gives the wearer superhuman strength. Sensors in the suit transmit information to a computer and coordinates its moves, so the wearer experiences no lag and no fatigue. The XOS takes up somewhat more room than Iron Man’s suit, but is a lot smaller than the contraption in Alien -with as much strength and more features. Jameson is now working under a $10 million US military grant. See a video of the XOS in action.
No word yet on that time machine.
Comments (13)
Comment
Long before Alien, Robert Heinlein wrote about powered suits for military use in ‘Starship Troopers’, going into considerable detail about their features, which included heads-up communications displays.
posted by Art Waite on 4-14-2008 at 9:32 am
That RID sounds neat, but how about we try to find some gadgets that will help the blind and visually impaired see better? I have students who can barely see in front of them, let alone have their own personal videogame. Just a thought….
Your sick, but still friendly, teacher of the visually impaired,
Patti
posted by TeacherPatti on 4-14-2008 at 10:20 am
The stuff you’re talking about in the first part is also refered to as augmented reality. It has been in development over the past decade for use in manufacturing capacities. It is supposed to make a line worker more efficent. Truthfully, I think it’s dehumanizing.
posted by Gary on 4-14-2008 at 10:42 am
Yeah but Heinlein’s StarShip Troopers is one of the worst books in the history of science fiction and the medium.
posted by FatzDominoh on 4-14-2008 at 11:44 am
Damn! put some armor on that exosuit and I can die a happy nerd.
posted by Feckineejit on 4-14-2008 at 11:51 am
great story.. it’s been added to gearcult.com
posted by rob on 4-14-2008 at 12:20 pm
Significant work was done on powered suits in the 1960’s - but the control system was then the hard part.
posted by Henry Troup on 4-14-2008 at 1:59 pm
Don’t mind Fatz, he’s just visiting from earth without a J.
Oh, and the story refers to the exo-skeleton in Alien…I believe Ms Weaver donned her yellow strap-on in Aliens, the sequel.
posted by Gay Deceiver on 4-14-2008 at 8:06 pm
Looking at the specs for the wrist communicator…
* Network:850/900/1800/1900（Two Antennas)
* 1.3’260K TFT Touch Screen
* Little bit waterproof
* Java Support
* Wap 2.0
“Little bit waterproof”?! For all the technology that’s in the thing you think they could have actually gotten some real measurements there.
posted by Steve on 4-14-2008 at 8:13 pm
While the XOS is very cool, the thing that will get my heart pumping is when an exoskeleton equipped with wings is built — an ornithopter suit? — allowing the wearer/pilot to fly bird-style. Now THAT would be something.
posted by Dave on 4-14-2008 at 11:24 pm
I have to wonder if there would be any real demand for the wrist communicator anymore. People seem perfectly happy with cell phones, why would they want to switch to a bulky, uncomfortable wristwatch?
Sign me up for that XOS suit though. That looks incredible.
posted by Dave on 4-15-2008 at 7:26 am
“…why would they want to switch to a bulky, uncomfortable wristwatch?”
I already have a stainless steel left hand and wear my watch on the porous-laminate socket that mounts the hand to my arm. I don’t care one way or the other about “bulky, uncomfortable” and the cool/geek factor appeals to me. Not to mention I’m always forgetting my phone–having it permanently mounted on my arm would solve that problem.
posted by Chris Moller on 4-30-2008 at 2:41 pm
I need me one of the exoskeleton suits so I can walk safely through my ghetto
posted by New Quizzes on 5-5-2008 at 3:53 pm