When movie gadgets go real (part 1)...

The Gadget Show  Monday 04 May 2009

Inspired by the recent Star Trek Edition Nokia 5800, we took it upon ourselves to look at tech in the movies and their real-life equivalents. From robot suits and laser watches to space tourism and jet packs, they’re all here…

Robot suit In the movie… Iron Man Robert Downey Jr creates a suit that simultaneously keeps him alive and gives him super powers. He can fly courtesy of jet boots, fire repulsor rays from his “gloves” and control all the devices in his armour via a cybernetic helmet. Awesome.

What we got… HAL suit Unfortunately it would require more energy than a nuclear power plant could produce to power Iron Man’s suit. The closest thing we’ve got to a robotic suit is the HAL suit, which is aimed at helping the elderly and people with disabilities. It’s designed to give them mechanical assistance triggered by brain signals. And you don’t even have to grow a stupid little goatee like Robert Downey Jr’s.

Space tourism In the movie… 2001: A Space Oddity Stanley Kubrik’s film gave popular space travel a more familiar feel, with an airplane-like resemblance to the space craft – TV screens in the back of head rests, flight attendants.

What we got… Virgin Galactic Strictly speaking we haven’t got it yet, but Richard Branson is working hard to deliver space tourism to the masses via Virgin Galactic. Beardy Branson’s boffins are finalising a ship that’ll do sub-orbital flights for around $20,000 a pop. There’s still no ETA, but fully orbital flights should follow shortly.

Laser watch In the movie… Goldeneye As anyone who loved the relevant level on the N64 game will testify to, Bond, played by Pierce Brosnan, fires a handy laser from his watch to cut through the train floor as a bomb counts down to detonation.

What we got… LG G910 watch phone Okay. So it’s nothing like the Laser Watch in Goldeneye, but think about it. Lasers are never as powerful in real life, so to cut through the floor of a train you’d need a watch (and laser) the size of Big ben. We’ll have to make do with the LG G910 watch phone, instead. Very Dick Tracy.

Jet packs In the movie… Thunderball Another Bond movie here. Sean Connery dons the tuxedo this time, as well as a jetpack that allows him to soar away from the villains, who are left cursing in Russian. That’s how you know they’re the villains.

What we got… Jet Pack International Turns out that jetpack was a real Bell-Textron jetpack as used by the US army. Only drawback? It lasted one leap and set your legs on fire in the process. Nowadays you can get a releatively small pack from Jet Pack International that will fly with pretty good accuracy for a whopping 30 seconds. At least it won’t burn your legs, though.

Touchscreen display tech In the movie… Minority Report Tom Cruise stands before a transparent glass screen, and uses hand movements to call up information and interact in a virtual interface with objects in three dimensions.

What we got… Microsoft Surface We’ve got a couple of very near interpretations. On a small scale, the iPhone’s multitouch system is one example. Taking it larger Microsoft have has developed its own gesture-based interface Surface in a number of devices ( SecondLight and ThinSight ) that allow for manipulation of images with both hands. Just like Minority Report. Sort of.

Keep an eye out for the second part of When Movie Gadgets Go Real, later this week…