Movie-Inspired Gadgets In Real Life
{http://www.wsj.com/articles/movie-inspired-gadgets-in-real-life-1427399252}
From ‘Back to the Future’ hoverboards to ‘Blade Runner’ flying cars and ‘Star Trek’ tricorders—filmmakers’ fantasies are becoming a reality
IT IS 26 YEARS since film fans got a glimpse of what 2015 could be like in the cult movie “Back to the Future Part II.” Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox, arrived from the past in his flying, time-traveling DeLorean on Oct. 21 this year. While we can’t yet fuel our cars with household trash, many of the technologies in the world he saw around him are eerily close to what we have today.
Video calling has been available for years; flatscreen TVs are standard; and Google Glass looks remarkably similar to devices worn by the McFly family at dinner. Earlier this year, designers at Nike announced that they are producing a real-life version of McFly’s self-tying “power-lace” sneakers.
The most eagerly awaited innovation from the movie, though, is the iconic hoverboard—a skateboard that floats over ground. Ever since scenes of Mr. Fox zipping around Hill Valley appeared in cinemas in 1989, director Robert Zemeckis—who has admitted that much of the technology in the film was meant as a joke—has been pestered by fans desperate to know when a real hoverboard might be available.
Now, a California-based company claims to have created something close to it. Arx Pax’s Hendo hoverboard harnesses magnetic induction to levitate above metallic surfaces. While not as versatile as Marty McFly’s, it comes pretty close according to a video of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk testing a prototype.
Initially the film, which came out in 1989, gave Greg Henderson, the company’s founder, an idea to solve a bigger problem. It was the year of the Loma Prieta earthquake in California, and Mr. Henderson imagined finding a way to raise buildings’ foundations off shaky ground. But it was only last year that hover technology stepped up a gear. “Launching the hover technology proof of concept to the world in the form of the Hendo hoverboard was a perfect fit. ‘Back to the Future II’ piqued the imagination of fans around the world,” explains Mr. Henderson, who envisions that the applications of hover technology will extend to positively impact “transportation, industrial automation, structural isolation, education and much more.”
Looking through the volumes of patent applications and stalls at consumer electronics shows, it seems there are a growing number of supposedly fictional technologies within our grasp. Could it be that the scientific community, driven by the sight of Hollywood stars playing with futuristic-looking toys, is being inspired by escapist entertainment?
Real Gadgets Inspired by Top Movies
The futuristic gadgets seen in blockbuster films are now becoming reality as science catches up with fantasy. —Richard Gray
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Certainly there is a generation of researchers striving to replicate the technology that appeared in the “Star Trek” franchise. Physicists have already proven that it is possible to teleport the quantum state of a particle a considerable distance in experiments that have drawn comparisons with the USS Enterprise transporter. Last year, scientists at the Australian National University showed that it was possible to push and pull small objects using a laser, suggesting we may be on our way to developing a tractor beam as seen in blockbusters from “Star Wars” to “Star Trek.”
In 2012 the XPrize Foundation, whose board includes film director James Cameron, launched a $10 million contest to create a real-life “Star Trek” Tricorder—a handheld diagnostic device—and there are currently 10 teams from around the world competing.
‘Filmmakers aren’t bound by the laws of physics. They might inspire someone to think around a real-world problem in a different way’
But movie technology doesn’t always jump ahead of reality—even if it appears that way. The jaw-dropping gadgets packed into “Minority Report,” Steven Spielberg’s dystopian vision of 2054, so captured audiences’ imaginations that they almost eclipsed the story. Yet the scenes where Tom Cruise tosses images and video around a room with a flick of his hand were actually based on technology being developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
John Underkoffler, a researcher at the university’s media lab, became a scientific consultant for the 2002 film. After seeing the audience reaction to the technology he had been working on, he left M.I.T. and set up his own company, Oblong Industries, to develop it further. What he has now produced works more intuitively than the system in “Minority Report” and looks more like the computer system used by Robert Downey Jnr. as Tony Stark in “Iron Man”—another movie he advised on.
Mr. Underkoffler acknowledges that cinema can provide important inspiration for developing technologies, but believes that it also serves a deeper purpose. “Movies provide us with the ability to see how technology may function and how people will use it. [They] can explore social and ethical questions that scientists cannot answer themselves,” he says.
Mike Ireland, senior vice president of production at 20th Century Fox, sees the relationship between technology in movies and real life as symbiotic. “It’s a constantly evolving conversation pushing both sides to be more innovative,” he says. “Filmmakers aren’t bound by the laws of physics. They might inspire someone to think around a real-world problem in a different way.”
The power of good filmmaking, Mr. Ireland believes, lies in the ability to connect emotionally with the audience—and one sure way of doing that in an increasingly connected world is through ever-more impressive and inspiring gadgets and personal technology rather than “sweeping sci-fi vistas.”
Perhaps the real power of movies is about persuading the next generation of inventors to push the boundaries of what is possible, just by making the technology look cool.
“Film and technology have always been linked,” says Mr. Ireland. “I think that’s because both traffic in the idea of possibility—of what could be instead of what is. It’s an important relationship that has given us everything from the cell phone to 3D printers. And hopefully, one day soon, a lightsaber.”
And who knows—come October 21, perhaps we should all look to the sky…just in case.
POWER LACES ‘Back to the Future II’ (1989) //
The real deal: Nike MAG power laces
When Marty McFly slips his feet into a pair of Nike high-tops, he is thrilled when they lace up by themselves. Nike has announced that it is making a version of the shoes (due to be available later this year; nike.com) with the self-tying feature included. A patent lodged by the company hints that the shoes have a weight sensor in the heel that triggers a mechanism that pulls the laces tight.
MEMORY CLOTH CAPE ‘Batman Begins’ (2005) //
The real deal: Memory gels
An electrically activated cape which turns into a rigid glider was one of the Dark Knight’s most memorable gadgets. In 2013 scientists, led by Dr. Michael Dickey at North Carolina State University, announced that they had produced a flexible hydrogel that stiffens and changes shape when a current passes through it. As yet, it’s not considered able to support a heavy object like a human body.
FLYING CAR ‘Blade Runner’ (1982) //
The real deal: AeroMobil 3.0
A Slovakia-based company has been developing a flying car since 1989 and its latest embodiment can drive on a road like a normal car, then, with its wings unfolded, take off at 90mph (aeromobil.com). However, the cost, when it does launch, is likely to be beyond mere mortals. Those hoping for something with vertical take-off may need to look to China, where patents have been lodged for a vehicle that uses two large fans to get airborne. Watch this space.
IMPLANTED PHONE ‘Total Recall’ (2012) //
The real deal: Autodesk prototype / Motorola’s digital tattoo
In the 2012 remake of “Total Recall,” the spies have mobile phone devices implanted in their hands that allow them to see who’s calling by touching a glass surface. The reality is still a way off. Autodesk (autodesk.com) has made a cellphone prototype with a speaker and tap sensor that could potentially be worn under the skin. Motorola has released sticky digital “wrist tattoos” that can unlock some of its phones with a tap (motorola.co.uk).
GESTURE-CONTROL ‘Minority Report’ (2002) //
The real deal: Oblong Industries’ Mezzanine / Microsoft’s HoloLens
When Tom Cruise throws holographic images in “Minority Report,” a voice in the room says: “I love this bit.” So did audiences. Ultrasound sensors in Oblong Industries’ Mezzanine system allow users to manipulate images, videos, graphics and documents remotely with hand gestures (oblong.com). Microsoft has teased details (but no release date) of its Holo-Lens headset which enables users to see 3D holographic images (microsoft.com).
HOVERBOARD ‘Back to the Future II’ (1989) //
The real deal: Hendo hoverboard
California-based Arx Pax’s prototype uses magnetic induction to create a magnetic field in non-iron containing conductive materials such as aluminum or copper—so skate parks lined with metal could be the future. The company hopes to test new conductive materials, and is working on a propulsion and steering system. Look out for it in October (hendohover.com).
MEDICAL TRICORDER ‘Star Trek’ (1966-1969) //
The real deal: Tricorder XPrize finalists
Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy diagnosed ailments with a sweep of his Tricorder. Now a $10 million prize has been offered by the XPrize Foundation for a product that can diagnose 13 conditions. Patient testing of finalists’ prototypes is due to begin in May. Among them is Scanadu (scanadu.com), a pill-shaped sensor that gives ECG readings and measures heart rate, temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels.
STICKY GLOVES ‘Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol’ // The real deal: Z-Man “Gecko gloves”
In a stunt that only Ethan Hunt could pull, Tom Cruise’s character puts on a pair of electronic gloves that allow him to climb up the sheer face of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Funded by the U.S. military, researchers at Stanford University were already developing a material based on the texture of geckos’ feet that works in a similar way. Tests on the gloves (not available to the public, sadly) have allowed a 70kg man to climb sheer vertical glass walls of up to 7.5 meters high.