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DEC 12, 2017 | BY TROY CARTER

5 real-life Star Wars technologies invented by DoD scientistsCreated in defense laboratories, these real life Star Wars technologies are also available to businesses

for product development

Storm Troopers via Pixabay

The latest film in the Star Wars saga, “The Last Jedi,” opens this weekend. And to help fans understand how close

the scientists and engineers working inside defense laboratories have brought us to that starry future we’ve

compiled this list of five real life star wars technologies from our database.

BB-8 and R2-D2 (via Pixabay)

1. Rolling Robots

R2-D2, an astromech droid, saved the rebellion’s hopes of disabling the Death Star by escaping with its blueprints

and eventually carrying them to Luke Skywalker. In “The Force Awakens” Star Wars fans met another astromech

welding droid named BB-8, whose head sits atop a rolling ball.

But did you know that BB-8’s mobility is similar to an actual, real-life Navy invention called the High-velocity

Spherical Microbot.

Inside, the microbot uses two servomotors that are oriented orthogonal to each other. They power rubberized

traction balls that touch the interior surface of the housing causing the ball to roll.

The Navy inventors also included a mechanical plunger that strikes the inside of the housing, which lets the

microbot hop over obstacles while carrying a variety of sensors. TechLink’s Joan Wu-Singel has the details for

businesses interested in commercializing the Navy’s microbot.

Luke Skywalker’s hand as seen in the trailer for “The Last Jedi.” (via YouTube)

2. Advanced Prosthetic Ankle

The iconic fight scene in “The Empire Strikes Back,” a desperate duel that ends on a narrow gantry inside Cloud

City’s reactor chamber, Darth Vader cuts off Luke Skywalker’s right hand with his red lightsaber.

After escaping the sith lord’s call to join his father on the dark side, Skywalker receives a prosthetic hand. And in the

trailer for “The Last Jedi,” we catch a glimpse of the mechanical replacement as he accepts a lightsaber from Rey.

Well, we’re making some pretty advanced prosthetics here on Earth. On Dec. 22, 2016, Carter Sigmon, Brian

Zalewski, and Darwin Clark, of the Naval Medical Research Center, filed for a patent on a user adjustable prosthetic

Well, if droids could think, there’d be none of us here, would there?” —Obi-

Wan Kenobi“

No. I am your father.” —Darth Vader“

ankle.

It allows a user to quickly and easily modify the pitch angle of the foot, which is key for using footwear of differing

heel heights without diminishing stability or safety during… swordplay.

This Star Wars technology is not only real life, but is available for prosthetic manufacturers to license and

commercialize. Contact TechLink’s Quinton King for more information.

 

Baze Malbus as seen at the Battle of Scarif in “Rogue One.” (via YouTube)

3. Man-portable Fiber Amplifier Lasers

Timothy Bradley and Eric Hillenbrand at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana, have patented a high

power laser system.

And the patent drawings look eerily like Baze Malbus, the rebel fighter who in “Rogue One” helped bring down the

shield gate at the Battle of Scarif only to die charging the Imperial Shock Troopers who killed his best friend, Chirrut

Îmwe.

Back here on Earth, the Navy’s researchers envisioned the backpack laser being used to breach metal walls and

doors. But Bradley has related inventions that turn this into a mobile laser cannon, capable of shooting down UAVs,

or disabling vehicles or enemy missiles. TechLink’s Sean Patten is familiar with Bradley’s patent portfolio and is

seeking businesses who will develop it.

via Nerdist

4. Advanced Body and Vehicle Armor

Part and parcel of the Imperial Army’s battlefield dominance is their use of armor, vehicle and body. Darth Vader’s

black helmet, the storm trooper’s 18-piece white body armor, and the towering four-legged AT-ATs (All Terrain

Armored Transport) are unforgettable. And then there’s Boba Fett’s helmet and body armor, made of Duraplast, a

superior metal synthesized from carbon.

Here on Earth, defense laboratories have advanced vehicle and body armor, making it stronger and more flexible.

The opaque ballistic face shield developed by Navy researchers uses fiber optics to collect the real-time image of

the scene and project it onto the inside of the face shield. The helmet is non-electric, made from silicon carbide and

I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.” –Chirrut Îmwe

“

That armor is too strong for blasters.” –Luke

Skywalker

“

polyethylene and weighs just two pounds, which is a significant weight advantage over transparent face shields.

The passive fiber optic bundles face forward andcapture the image and project it onto the inside ofthe ballistic face shield.

Navy researchers have developed a lightweight and flexible body armor as an improved alternative to conventional

plate armor, which is relatively large and bulky. The armor comes in two variants: a fabric for the torso that

resembles dimpled foam rubber, and an insert of interlocking pieces that lock up into a solid piece upon

impact. The protection in the new armor comes from the use of tiny interlocking hexagonal tiles made of boron

carbide and silicon carbide.

Navy researchers have also developed a method to fabricate nanocrystalline transparent magnesium aluminate that

is 50 percent harder than the best materials used in military vehicle windows and optical sensors. This see-through

armor has the highest reported hardness of any transparent ceramic, and was achieved by enhanced high pressure

sintering using a reduced, 28 nanometer grain size. Contact TechLink’s Austin Leach for more details on

commercializing this amazing material.

5. Advanced Ship Navigation

It takes some imagination to understand how hyperdrive engines allow travel at light speed, but one thing we can

safely assume is that with the interception point being somewhat unknown, efforts by Imperial Forces to block

rebel starships in hyperspace requires very precise course plotting.

That, it turns out, is an issue similar for maritime navigators. To address the problem, the Naval Postgraduate

School invented what we call the Oceanic Route Finder.

When the Navy hopes to meet another ship at sea, like a refueling ship or enemy star destroyer, thousands of

shortest-route calculations must be done in a time frame insensible to a human, so speed in finding the shortest

route is of the essence.

Thus, the developed program provides a method and system that quickly determines the shortest oceanic route

between dynamic points X and Y, using an oceanic routing system in which a computer implements spherical

mathematics to calculate the shortest route. If Y is not visible from X, the system uses an overlay of vertexes on the

globe and navigates from vertex to vertex.

We hope you enjoy watching “The Last Jedi,” even more now that you know it won’t be that long until we’re

traveling to distant corners of the galaxy thanks to defense laboratories.

We know he won’t be in this film, but for ‘ol times sake we wanted to end with some Han Solo wisdom.

via Newsweek

Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral! I want that ship, not excuses!” –DarthVader“

Let's Talk

Quinton King, PhD, CLP

406-994-7795

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