stations on bridge and UI

[jefferiestubes8]

Are we going to have a major trend in 5-10 years where everything looks like what Tom Cruise's character uses being motion-controlled as in Minority Report set in 2053 ?

Microsoft Kinect already offers that for games and coming for PC computers. The next Sony Playstation gaming system will have it too.
This is going to happen a lot faster and in the next 10 years the interface for computers will move to the gestures and voice. Apple's Siri software shows how this is possible.
I came across this and it looks high tech and yet a little too much. love the photo though.
Microsoft 3D desktop with Kinect concept revealed

Since this is the way things are going with the exception of continuity of TOS & ENT and the rest I think the bridge stations will need to be redesigned to include motion gestures rather than just button pushing.
engineering station, tactical station, science stations, communications.
With the iPad touchscreen surfaces it is the way the software is now that anything can be slid, pushed, or multitouch gestures to get things done.
I can see iPad like large surfaces for each station but a in-the-air motion control should be what is worked on for Trek.

 

[Mysterion]

You see something like this as far back as The Cage. Spock gestures at his science station to bring images up on his view screen a couple of times.

 

[C.E. Evans]

You see something like this as far back as The Cage. Spock gestures at his science station to bring images up on his view screen a couple of times.

For a long time, I thought that was the case too, but found out that Spock was actually giving cues to a female officer sitting just below the range of the camera to change the images (here's the behind the scenes photo):
http://startrekhistory.com/assets/CageSpockPonyTail500px.jpg

 

[Mysterion]

You see something like this as far back as The Cage. Spock gestures at his science station to bring images up on his view screen a couple of times.

For a long time, I thought that was the case too, but found out that Spock was actually giving cues to a female officer sitting just below the range of the camera to change the images (here's the behind the scenes photo):
http://startrekhistory.com/assets/CageSpockPonyTail500px.jpg

I stand corrected. thanks!

 

[F. King Daniel]

Watching a bunch of people conducting an opera will never be as satisfying as clicking switches, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

Plus, when the ship's shaking apart, and people are flying all over and confusing the hell out of the ship's motion sensors, there may be some accidental autodestruct activation incidents....

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Plus, when the ship's shaking apart, and people are flying all over and confusing the hell out of the ship's motion sensors, there may be some accidental autodestruct activation incidents....

Not likely, but I did .

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

The gesture to open fire needs to be the middle finger.

They're both universal gestures of dislike. Why not streamline?

 

[Mr. B]

I think the appeal of tactile feedback will persist... no doubt that will be possible in mid-air someday.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Watching a bunch of people conducting an opera will never be as satisfying as clicking switches, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

I think the appeal of tactile feedback will persist... no doubt that will be possible in mid-air someday.

I think it allows for a more dramatic storytelling on a TV series with what we've seen in all of Trek be a button push or a fader slide on a LCARS terminal on the bridge.

In the 24th century, graphical controls housed underneath touch-sensitive clear panels allowed LCARS panels to be quickly reconfigured by users to suit the task at hand

By the 29th century the LCARS was, at least partially, replaced by the TCARS.

TCARS is an acronym for the Computer Access and Retrieval System used aboard 29th century timeships. It is the successor to the Federation's starship LCARS. It can be operated by touch or by simply moving one's hand over a control surface.

from memory alpha.
Since it is 2012 and actually have that with an iPad and almost all iOS software I really can't see how the next Trek TV series will just have physical buttons. Surely they will have something like a TCARS since by the time the next Trek TV series is in production there will be 5 generations of the iPad and tablet computers will have hit mainstream acceptance.
the gesture-based interface MS Kinect was released in late 2010 and for PC computer use a month ago. Gesture-based interfaces and voice recognition will become the norm in 10 years. It won't be long before we all laugh at the scene from STIV:TVH where Scotty talks to the desktop computer and then picks up the mouse and talks to the mouse. not because we all know you can't talk to a computer but because the technology has caught up and that scene becomes obsolete tech.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It won't be long before we all laugh at the scene from STIV:TVH where Scotty talks to the desktop computer and then picks up the mouse and talks to the mouse. not because we all know you can't talk to a computer but because the technology has caught up and that scene becomes obsolete tech.

Um, you do realize that Scotty thought the mouse was the microphone on an obsolete computer, right? You do realize that the scene was meant to be laughed at back in 1986, right?

 

[jefferiestubes8]

You do realize that the scene was meant to be laughed at back in 1986, right?

Yes and it will come full circle when using a mouse and keyboard only 30 years later become obsolete.
Not 100 or 200 years but 30 years was what I'm getting at and how I think the title of this thread will have to deal with this issue for the next Trek TV series.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

The computer used in that scene was a Mac Plus with a black and white monitor. We're already laughing at it.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

The computer used in that scene was a Mac Plus with a black and white monitor. We're already laughing at it.

But the user interface is still the same in corporate America's offices and at most homes with a Mac or PC desktop computer using a mouse & keyboard (not the majority using an iPad or tablet).

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, we'll see in four years, whether keyboards and mice have gone the way of the dinosaur by then.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

the gesture-based interface MS Kinect was released in late 2010 and for PC computer use a month ago. Gesture-based interfaces and voice recognition will become the norm in 10 years.

As a gamer, I'm compelled to step in and point out how physically tasking Kinect is. Waving your arms around takes a lot more effort than resting your arms in a desk and typing in commands. Especially when you're assigned to do so for a few hours. You can't exactly take an "ow, arms tired" break during a red alert.

I see gesture controls as being an optional/supplementary thing in the future, rather than the norm. Now, amped-up touchscreens that can provide physical feedback, like buttons, and change their shape to suit the present workstation's needs? I'd bet on that being more widespread.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If Kinect is a workout, how about that weapons console from B5: Legend of the Rangers? Now THAT's brutal...

 

[F. King Daniel]

When I was LittleDaniel, and Next Gen was on, I was amazed at the futuristic control consoles they used. Twenty years later, the interface on my android phone is more flexible, animated and advanced.

The only way I can justify Trek's dated vision of the future is to say it's technology meets art, and the interfaces are the whim of the creators rather than the most practical/advanced technology in existence. The TOS Enterprise has a retro look, the STXI Enterprise a shiny look, the Next Gen Enterprise a.... sort of diner/hotel lobby look. But it's all essentially the same stuff underneath.

Voyager's "Timeless" spoke of 3D computer interfaces (possibly those seen in the "Countdown" comic?), which made Voyager's seem clunky, and "Endgame" gave us a shuttle mostly controlled by a microchip in Admiral Janeway's brain. Next to them, 29th century "wave your hand an inch above the panel" technology is hopelessly primitive. And certainly not the result of 500 years of bleeding-edge technological progression.