Movies are not just great entertainment, they are also a great way to kindle your imagination. It lets you sneak into a fantasy world of What Ifs! History stands testimony that science fiction movies and books have paved the way for numerous real-life inventions. And today, we take a look at all the technologies from the cinematic universe and are now a reality!
Droids
Well, a humanoid robot that understands everything we speak and can operate autonomously has been the dream for ages. Scientists have been relentlessly working over the past few decades to make this a reality. All the Star Wars fans out there know that the first droid, R2-D2 made an apperance on-screen way back in 1977.
The Empire Strikes Back gave the world a glimpse of the first droid. Obeying commands, saving his masters from dangers, and displaying great bravery, The Artoo-Detoo has been part of 11 out of 12 Star Warsmn movies so far! The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently tested and launched a humanoid robot recently. It can function independently and perform actions like driving a vehicle, climbing the stairs, opening doors, etc. It looks like it wouldn’t be long before the droids become a part of our world!
Universal Translator
Each one of us speaks a different language. And this makes it difficult for us to understand what others have to say when we are among people who speak a different tongue. And ensuring that people understood what the other person spoke was the job of translators. This was a profession that was immensely popular with the rise of globalization. However, there was a need that the sci-fi world imagined, and it is only in recent times that it has become a reality.
We are talking about universal translators. Murray Leinster, in 1945 was the first one to visualize the possibility of a universal translator in First Contact. Since then, many movies, including Star Trek, Doctor Who, and The Hitchhiker’s’ Guide to the Galaxy, have made mentions of it in their works. This became a reality with the Babel Fish app by Yahoo, which was launched in 1997.
3D Hologram
Like many technologies that we see today, Star Wars was the one that laid the foundation stone for the 3D Hologram. The viewers saw a 3D hologram image when Obi-Wan Kenobi receives a message in Episode IV of Star Wars, A New Hope. Holography or 3D Hologram technology made it’s way into real life too. The three-dimensional light field is done using a holographic projector, which uses a plasma laser to float the 3D image in mid-air.
While numerous fields have been adopting this technology over the past few years, the most captivating one was its an adaptation into a German circus. It used 11 projectors to create breathtaking images of the animals using projection. This was a welcome move, as it prevents the cruelty of animals.
SmartWatch
This one made its apperance, not in a sci-fi film, but a cartoon. Yes, the Jetsons spoke about a smartwatch that could stream videos, make phone calls, and perform many functions beyond what a watch could perform. And today, we have an Apple Watch that could do the same and a lot more.
Video Calling
We have seen this technology repeatedly in numerous movies and read about in books over the years. While video calls are an everyday thing now, did you know that this technology made its appearance way back in 1927? It was in the film Metropolis where an analog videophone was mounted onto the wall and needed four dials before finding the right frequency before the person can make a call. Besides that, the video calling technology went on to feature in several other films too, including 2001: A Space Odyssey and Back to the Future Part II.
These are just a few from the many technologies that made it to real-life from the fictional world. Many more scientific advancements made it to the real world besides this too, and the list is endless. For instance, the flying cars from The Jetsons would be a great scientific invention we would love to see coming to the real world. And of course, the time travel machine too. So, what are your thoughts and the technologies you would like to see in the real world!