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
 |
'Eye In The Sky' Movie Borrows 35, 80 Year-Old SF
I'm looking forward to seeing the 2015 movie Eye in the Sky, starring Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and Iain Glen, which has received excellent reviews but only limited release.
Take a look at the following trailer, and pause for a moment at 20 seconds and at 40 seconds to see a couple of science-fictional technologies that were first introduced about thirty-five and eighty years ago, respectively.
(Eye in the Sky movie trailer video)
The first is a UAV flapping-wing bird that was described by Roger Zelazny in his 1980 novel Changeling; he called it the tracer-bird:
The prototype blue-bellied, gray-backed tracer-bird with the wide-angle eye and the parabola ear followed the dragon-riders north. A series of the larger fliers followed it at well-spaced intervals, to serve as relay points for the spy broadcasts...
(Read more about Zelazny's tracer-bird)
Here's a real-life prototype of a flapping-wing UAV developed by AeroEnvironment:
(Robotic hummingbird)
Here's another real-life example, an (ultralight crane:
(Origami crane flying)
The second instance is an 80 year-old idea, from a 1936 issue of Astounding Stories magazine. Raymond Z. Gallun was one of the three most famous authors of the Golden Age of science fiction (or scientifiction); he's fun to read even today.
The Scarab rubbed its hind legs together, as flies will do when at rest. Then, apparently satisfied that it was in condition, it unfolded the coleoptera-like plates over its wings. With a buzz that any uninformed person would have mistaken for that of a beetle, it started out on its journey.
(Read more about the scarab flying insect robot)
I should also point out Philip K Dick's amazing housefly monitor from his 1964 novel Lies, Inc..
Check out some of these links for stories about real-life insect-sized flying robots:
- 'New' Israeli Bionic Hornet Concept Is 70 Years Old
- Jumping Microrobot 'Flea' Is Solar Powered
- Robotic Fly Micro Air Vehicle
- Morphing Micro Air-Land Vehicle: It Flies, It Crawls
- DelFly Micro Smallest Camera Plane
- ExoFly Flapping Planetary Survey Aerobot
- Katana Mono-Wing Rotorcraft Nano Air Vehicle
- Stealthy, Persistent Perch and Stare UAVs
- Robobees To Swarm At Harvard
- Bio-Mechanics And Micro-Robotic Flight
- Perching Project Drones Wait For You
- Insectothopter Robotic Dragonfly CIA Tech From 1970s
- Microcamera Big As Grain Of Salt
- Robobee Learns The Waggle Dance
- BOLT Bipedal Ornithopter Robot
- Israel's Robotic Butterfly Drone Flies Indoors
- Can't Wait For My Robot Dragonfly!
- Black Hornet Nano UAV Used By British Troops
- RoboBee Swarm Replaces Pollinating Insects?
- Drosophila Robotica, The Mechanical Fly
- Tiniest Microphone Inspired By Fly
- Fast Lightweight Autonomy Indoor Drones For DARPA
I'm still waiting for this movie to come to my town's art theaters, hopefully I'll be able to see Eye in the Sky by early April. This movie also features one of the last performances by Alan Rickman, who died last year.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 3/19/2016)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Surveillance ")
Flock Stymied By 'Adversarial Fashion'
'Forget the head atop it, the legs below, feet, arms, hands. It compels erasure.' - William Gibson, 2010.
China's 'Magpie Drone' Ornithopter
'Midges have many capabilities. To the untrained eye, they look like sparrows.' - Greg Bear, 2007.
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.' - Pournelle and Niven, 1981.)
Perching Ambush Drones
'On the chest of drawers something was perched.' - Philip K. Dick, 1956.
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 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
Current News
Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
Can Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Control The Weather?
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
Wolfram Alpha Mathematica Predicted by Science Fiction in 1948!
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
NASA Moonbase Update
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
Neuralink Will Allow Humans To Communicate With ... Animals?
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
Special Lights For Driverless Cars!
'That light is actually the Anamorphic Equalizer...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'Maybe The Woman Of Your Life Is Still Under Production'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
