Gadgets Inspired by Doctor Who
The cult British science fiction television series Doctor Who celebrates its 50th anniversary in November 2013: the first series was shown on the BBC channel on November 23, 1963. As in any science fiction work, there were a lot of different devices glimpsed in it, some of which have already been tried by scholars and enthusiastic fans to reproduce.
The 1960s were the heyday of science fiction, when writers and screenwriters were not afraid to invent the most incredible devices. But the most interesting thing is that some of their fantastic assumptions turned out to be not so fantastic: for example, the communicator from another cult (but American) TV series “Star Trek” served as a source of inspiration for the inventor Martin Cooper, who is now known as the person who made the first The world is a cell phone call.
So, perhaps, the gadgets from Doctor Who are not as fantastic as they might seem? On the eve of the anniversary of the television series, let us find out which gadgets and technologies from Doctor Who have already been created or at least simulated in real life.
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The sonic screwdriver is a versatile tool, without which the Doctor is like without hands. Influencing various mechanisms through sound waves, it is able to open mechanical and electronic locks, act as a medical scanner, deactivate and modify electronic devices and even laser weapons, destabilize programmable matter ... In general, the list of functions of a sound screwdriver is constantly lengthening - such a magic wand in a science fiction context. Or umklaydet Strugatsky in the British manner - as you please.
So far, modern scientists have not managed to create the same multifunctional, but at the same time compact device, but the enterprising dealers from The Wand Company have created a universal remote control Sonic Screwdriver , which looks exactly like the Doctor's screwdriver (you can even choose between screwdrivers Tenth and Eleventh), but its possibilities are much more modest. This programmable IR remote can be used to control TVs, DVDs and Blu-ray players, iPod docking stations and other devices equipped with an infrared port.
The console recognizes 13 gestures that, thanks to the three memory banks, can be used to program 39 remote control commands. For example, a circular motion with a screwdriver clockwise / counterclockwise can be used to change the volume of the sound or scroll. So that no one but the owner can use a screwdriver, the function of blocking with the help of a three-character PIN code is provided. It is powered by a miracle of technology from a battery charged with a micro USB cable. Tru-fans will be pleased with the lights and sound, which make the console even more like a real screwdriver.
However, the console resembles a sonic screwdriver only in form, but not in content. And scientists from the University of Dundee (Scotland) have created a device that uses ultrasonic waves to lift and rotate a rubber disk floating in a cylinder with water. This is the first ultrasound device capable of lifting and rotating objects, all its predecessors could only push them forward. Of course, rubber disc manipulation is just the beginning. The development is planned to be used for use in ultrasound surgery (by the way, the Doctor also occasionally used his screwdriver for medical purposes).
The same recognizable symbol of the series, like the sonic screwdriver, is the TARDIS (TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimension (s) in Space). In appearance, this is a British police box originally from the 1960s, but in reality the TARDIS is at the same time a spacecraft, a time machine and a living creature to boot. Oh yeah, it's also more inside than outside: in a modest police booth there are several control cabins, living rooms and even a pool.
The explanation for this phenomenon is that the exterior and interior of the TARDIS exist in various dimensions. Unfortunately, we are limited to a boring and banal three-dimensional space, so the TARDIS and all sorts of tesseracts for which superheroes fight in Marvel films remain for us nothing more than an abstraction. However, Greg Kumparak , a former employee of Tech Crunch, managed to build a TARDIS model, which actually seems more inside than outside. For this, he used augmented reality technology.
Under augmented reality (augmented reality) imply the addition of reality with virtual elements. Kumparak created two TARDIS models - real and three-dimensional virtual - and with the help of augmented reality combined them into a single whole.
If you open the model's door, you can see only a strange black and white pattern - the label of augmented reality . However, it is worth pointing a smartphone camera onto the model with a special application, as the TARDIS interior will appear on the display instead of a pattern, and it will appear that inside it is really more than the outside. When turning the model, the viewing angle of the interior will change accordingly.
To create an Android application, Kumparak used the free package to create 3D graphics from Blender (which he literally understood at random), the Unity 3D engine and Vuforia AR SDK is a set of development tools for creating augmented reality applications. The practical use of such a TARDIS is dubious (we have not yet grasped the secrets of the fourth dimension), but it warms the soul of the fan and perfectly illustrates the possibilities of augmented reality.
The TARDIS and the sonic screwdriver are undoubtedly the most vivid examples of technologies from Doctor Who, and let their implementations be far from prototypes, the most important thing is that they inspire, make you think, search and try . If you dig deeper, you can remember that scientists are working on the problem of tissue regeneration (and the Doctor is practically immortal due to the ability to regenerate), the creation of cyber prostheses (some of the Doctor’s enemies were cybermen) and cloning (the doctors in the series were cloned at least twice, and in different ways).
Sources:
Birthday of the Doctor Who series
The wand company
Dr Who's sonic screwdriver 'invented' at Dundee University
Mini TARDIS really is bigger on the inside, thanks to augmented reality
The 1960s were the heyday of science fiction, when writers and screenwriters were not afraid to invent the most incredible devices. But the most interesting thing is that some of their fantastic assumptions turned out to be not so fantastic: for example, the communicator from another cult (but American) TV series “Star Trek” served as a source of inspiration for the inventor Martin Cooper, who is now known as the person who made the first The world is a cell phone call.
So, perhaps, the gadgets from Doctor Who are not as fantastic as they might seem? On the eve of the anniversary of the television series, let us find out which gadgets and technologies from Doctor Who have already been created or at least simulated in real life.
')
Sonic screwdriver
The sonic screwdriver is a versatile tool, without which the Doctor is like without hands. Influencing various mechanisms through sound waves, it is able to open mechanical and electronic locks, act as a medical scanner, deactivate and modify electronic devices and even laser weapons, destabilize programmable matter ... In general, the list of functions of a sound screwdriver is constantly lengthening - such a magic wand in a science fiction context. Or umklaydet Strugatsky in the British manner - as you please.
So far, modern scientists have not managed to create the same multifunctional, but at the same time compact device, but the enterprising dealers from The Wand Company have created a universal remote control Sonic Screwdriver , which looks exactly like the Doctor's screwdriver (you can even choose between screwdrivers Tenth and Eleventh), but its possibilities are much more modest. This programmable IR remote can be used to control TVs, DVDs and Blu-ray players, iPod docking stations and other devices equipped with an infrared port.
The console recognizes 13 gestures that, thanks to the three memory banks, can be used to program 39 remote control commands. For example, a circular motion with a screwdriver clockwise / counterclockwise can be used to change the volume of the sound or scroll. So that no one but the owner can use a screwdriver, the function of blocking with the help of a three-character PIN code is provided. It is powered by a miracle of technology from a battery charged with a micro USB cable. Tru-fans will be pleased with the lights and sound, which make the console even more like a real screwdriver.
However, the console resembles a sonic screwdriver only in form, but not in content. And scientists from the University of Dundee (Scotland) have created a device that uses ultrasonic waves to lift and rotate a rubber disk floating in a cylinder with water. This is the first ultrasound device capable of lifting and rotating objects, all its predecessors could only push them forward. Of course, rubber disc manipulation is just the beginning. The development is planned to be used for use in ultrasound surgery (by the way, the Doctor also occasionally used his screwdriver for medical purposes).
Tardis
The same recognizable symbol of the series, like the sonic screwdriver, is the TARDIS (TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimension (s) in Space). In appearance, this is a British police box originally from the 1960s, but in reality the TARDIS is at the same time a spacecraft, a time machine and a living creature to boot. Oh yeah, it's also more inside than outside: in a modest police booth there are several control cabins, living rooms and even a pool.
The explanation for this phenomenon is that the exterior and interior of the TARDIS exist in various dimensions. Unfortunately, we are limited to a boring and banal three-dimensional space, so the TARDIS and all sorts of tesseracts for which superheroes fight in Marvel films remain for us nothing more than an abstraction. However, Greg Kumparak , a former employee of Tech Crunch, managed to build a TARDIS model, which actually seems more inside than outside. For this, he used augmented reality technology.
Under augmented reality (augmented reality) imply the addition of reality with virtual elements. Kumparak created two TARDIS models - real and three-dimensional virtual - and with the help of augmented reality combined them into a single whole.
If you open the model's door, you can see only a strange black and white pattern - the label of augmented reality . However, it is worth pointing a smartphone camera onto the model with a special application, as the TARDIS interior will appear on the display instead of a pattern, and it will appear that inside it is really more than the outside. When turning the model, the viewing angle of the interior will change accordingly.
To create an Android application, Kumparak used the free package to create 3D graphics from Blender (which he literally understood at random), the Unity 3D engine and Vuforia AR SDK is a set of development tools for creating augmented reality applications. The practical use of such a TARDIS is dubious (we have not yet grasped the secrets of the fourth dimension), but it warms the soul of the fan and perfectly illustrates the possibilities of augmented reality.
The TARDIS and the sonic screwdriver are undoubtedly the most vivid examples of technologies from Doctor Who, and let their implementations be far from prototypes, the most important thing is that they inspire, make you think, search and try . If you dig deeper, you can remember that scientists are working on the problem of tissue regeneration (and the Doctor is practically immortal due to the ability to regenerate), the creation of cyber prostheses (some of the Doctor’s enemies were cybermen) and cloning (the doctors in the series were cloned at least twice, and in different ways).
Sources:
Birthday of the Doctor Who series
The wand company
Dr Who's sonic screwdriver 'invented' at Dundee University
Mini TARDIS really is bigger on the inside, thanks to augmented reality
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/198454/
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