Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"I'm a fairly visual thinker. In doing science, I think in terms of pictures of things happening, and then do the mathematics."
- Gregory Benford
 |
| Drone Floater Camera | ||
| A one-foot square aerostat capable of hovering with a camera to transmit images back to a base station. |
A runaway robot is running amuck inside a house; a baby is inside the house. Jack Ramsay of the Runaway squad sends a floater camera, a remote-controlled hovering video platform, into the house.
 (Top view of floater camera) "There is a baby alive inside the house. Police are preparing a floater camera which will enter the house and attempt to locate the runaway 912..."
|
| Technovelgy from Runaway,
by Michael Crichton. Published by Tri-Star Pictures in 1985 Additional resources -
|
Police can view the surveillance video on this cool indash video screen. The idea of having a video screen built into the door of a car is also an interesting idea.
(Indash video control screen)
The movement of the floater camera appears to be entirely remote-controlled.
Compare to the raytron apparatus from Beyond the Stars (1928) by Ray Cummings, the scarab robot flying insect from The Scarab (1936) by Raymond Z. Gallun, the artificial eye drone from Glimpse (1938) by Manly Wade Wellman, the Ro-Eyes (robot eyes) from The Unforseen (1946) by Mark Champion, eyes from This Moment of the Storm (1966) by Roger Zelazny, the Ultraminiature Spy-Circuit from The Unknown (1972) by Christopher Anvil, copseyes from Cloak of Anarchy (1972) by Larry Niven, the sky ball from A Day For Damnation (1985) by David Gerrold, the aerostat monitor from The Diamond Age (1995) by Neal Stephenson, the loiter drone from The Algebraist (2004) by Iain Banks and the bee cam from City of Pearl (2004) by Karen Traviss.
Comment/Join this discussion ( 0 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Runaway
More Ideas
and Technology by Michael Crichton
Tech news articles related to Runaway
Tech news articles related to works by Michael Crichton
Drone Floater Camera-related
news articles:
- Micro Air Vehicle In Use In Iraq
- Robotic Flying Saucer Drones
- Honeywell Micro Air Vehicle Tested By Miami Police
- Aeryon Scout UAV Like In Crichton's Runaway
- Surveillance By Flying Saucer
- Quadrotor UAV Makes First Arrest In UK
- LaWS Laser Can Take Out Rogue Drones
| FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers |
| Perching Ambush Drones |
| India Ponders Always-On Smartphone Location Tracking |
| LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049 |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
