Five Sci-Fi Gadgets That Came to Life

There’s a sci-fi buff inside every one of us. We have had our inspiration from a ton of movies, novels and video games. How many of us don’t wish our otherwise-average-TV transforms into a humanoid that further breaks into a techno jig? Fact is, we all do, well at least many of us.

Taking a pick from the sci-fi genre, we bring five gadgets that we’ve seen, read or heard about and today can actually get our hands on one. Check them out.

Tablets
Starting off with something that has been in the news, markets, events and almost everywhere. What we call the tablet today, was actually the PADD (Personal Access Display Device) from Star Trek, a TV series since 1967 and movies which were made since 1979. Okay not actually, but more or less the same. The device seen in the pictures back then is nowhere close to the tablets of today. But you really have to admire the fact that something like this was conceptualized a long time back.

PADD's the way I like it...

Of course the tablet is not a very new idea, there were concepts earlier, but like it or not, they have become a lot more popular now then it was back then. So round one, Star Trek brings the tablet concept to the general public.

House Cleaning Robots
Cartoon time! If you’ve spent your evenings after school gobbling milk and cookies and staring at Cartoon Network, you’re bound to remember The Jetsons. No one better than Rosie the robot that can clean up the mess that Astro their pet dog made! The real life counterpart we’re talking about here is Roomba.

Oh dear Rosie...

Although not as interactive as Rosie, the robot does the job of getting under couches, cleaning off the dirt and heads straight back to the docking station after work. The good point you have to note is that Roomba is not as nagging as Rosie!

The roomba doing broomba

Exoskeletons
"Iron Man". That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. Sadly, that’s not what the real-world exoskeletons are actually called. SARCOS or the XOS exoskeleton as the US Army calls it, gives the user “super-human” strength.

Wish I had that!

XOS is also referred to as half-human and half-robot. The robot part is obviously the metal-based exoskeleton which the user controls. So if you’re readying yourself to carry a big block weighing 200 pounds, the sensors placed in pivotal points of the exoskeleton detect the parts of the body you’re going to use. After detecting, those particular joints of the exoskeleton get into action and the user doesn’t feel anything but lifting their hands! Pretty neat for now, but you never know, the future exoskeletons could have jetpacks attached to it!

This looks something that I can have.. Hmm..

Wristwatch Phones
The concept dates back to 1940 with Dick Tracy using one of these to for audio communication. It’s also being said that the later models (sometime in the 60’s) also had video. The real life gadget is our very own LG GD910 Watch Phone.

Even if it's not exactly Dick Tracy's, you certainly can try it...

LG’s GD910 is something that many would like to have. With normal features of making calls and sending texts, it also has video playback and a camera. What might eventually stop people to buy this is its pricing, but if you dig espionage, save up for this one!

Lightsabers
Although I never thought of including this, I just couldn’t resist telling you all about how cool a Star Wars sword would actually be in real life! Admittedly, the Star Wars weapon has not been mastered in terms of functionality. Nevertheless, current technology cannot be far from it. We’ve seen lasers rip off metal and concrete although they aren’t really portable.

Darth Vader welcomes you...

So if the current Spyder III Pro Arctic Laser doesn’t come close to the actual thing, then what does? The only difference is you won’t see your friend (or enemy) being amputated if you just pretend to slash him/her.

Good to shoot down spyders

These are the gadgets I feel have been awesome in reel as well as real life. The fact that none of these were from the gaming world is quite a bummer. If you think there are any gadgets that you would like to see, you can tell us in the comments section.