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From Reel to Real: Exploring the technologies of Star Wars

By Kenneth Ang - 17 Dec 2019

Prosthetics and Artificial Intelligence

Note: This article was first published on 17th December 2019 and is re-published for Star Wars Day.

Image: Respawn Entertainment

To all self-respecting pop culture fans, Star Wars isn't just famous for its depiction of an oppressive dictatorship versus a motley crew of freedom-fighters, nor is it for its signature opening sequence and music theme. Like most sci-fi franchises, a large part of its appeal also stems from its futuristic technology, like lightsabers and hoverbikes. While it's a pity we don't have either of those yet, but there are some other things from that galaxy far, far away that are pretty similar to what we have in the here and now, and that's what we'll be looking at today.

 

Cybernetics: Sticks and stones can break your bones

But not if they're made from durasteel. Or something. Anyway, here's our first topic for today: medical tech and prosthetics. But before we delve into the discussion proper, we hope everyone's acquainted with this guy.

Darth Vader. (Credit: Disney)

Now, now, let's save the red lightsabers and Force-choking for the afterparty. Indeed, if we're talking about prosthetics there's no way we're skipping Darth Vader. The (primary?) antagonist of the Star Wars franchise is not only a master of the Dark Side of the Force, but he's also the series' epitome of prosthetic technology and cybernetics. I mean, the dude's literally just an organic torso with a bunch of mechanical limbs encased in a suit of armor.

What's really cool about this is that most of the "futuristic" tech found in Vader's suit are actually not that far off from medical apparatus that we already have. For example, there's his signature respirator, which you might find similar to the "oxygen boxes" used to help newborn babies breathe. Other similar contraptions in this regard include the breathing equipment and oxygen tanks used for space exploration and scuba diving, although those are more of "supplies" than "respirators" per se. 

There are also Vader's mechanical limbs themselves. Granted, you won't find any of those made from durasteel yet - most prosthetic limbs are primarily constructed using titanium, which is hardy yet relatively lightweight. Speaking of which, the Star Wars franchise is also home to the ever-familiar, quadruple lightsaber-wielding cyborg that is General Grievous.

General Grievous. (Credit: Electronic Arts)

Unlike Vader, this bloodthirsty fellow is almost completely machine, sporting robot arms that can handle movements otherwise impossible for a human being. 

In any case, there isn't an actual need for our hands to be able to spin in continuous 360-degree circles, which is probably why they haven't got around to that yet. No pun intended. Current prosthetic arms and legs aren't as nimble as the General's either - they can handle running and jogging fine, but are still pretty delicate stuff by comparison. Essentially, they're not something you'd expect to last through an intergalactic war.

 

Droids: Rise of the Machines

Whirr. Boop. Beep.

Droids are aplenty in the Star Wars universe and increasingly, it's becoming a reality in ours in certain ways. (Image credit: Disney)

Oh, hi there, R2. You too, C-3PO.

Yes, it's time to talk about the bots. Droids like this duo above have long been a staple of Star Wars, and to be honest it might not be wrong to say their presence sparked a new wave of interest in robotics and artificial intelligence. Regardless, in the decades since the movie first premiered, both of those realms have undeniably come a long way, to the point where many industries utilise robots to accomplish otherwise labour-intensive or dangerous tasks. From bomb disposal to packaging frozen pizzas, robots have played a huge part in increasing productivity and output in various fields, although I'd say we're still pretty far off from sentient automata like our favourite blue and golden droids.

Read: Meet Auberon, a made-in-Singapore firefighting exoskeleton

Still, if it's any consolation, we've at least got merchandise and appliances that resemble them. Take this R2-D2 and BB-8-inspired rice cooker, for instance. Wonder if they go "Beep boop!" when the cooking's done?

Credit: Instant Pot

In terms of A.I., the most advanced candidate we have to date is DeepMind's AlphaGo Zero, an ultra-advanced, self-learning computer software that is able to play the strategic board game Go. It managed to beat the original AlphaGo software 100-0, and that's really impressive when you consider that the latter was already able to defeat the current human Go champion Lee Se-dol 2-1!

Read: The amazing things Google is doing with AI

Credit: DeepMind

Fortunately, it's not at the point where we have to worry about the whole "Genisys is Skynet" thing from Terminator: Genisys. Yet.

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