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Science Tricorder, for real, looking for input

 
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I'll give you one primary market for it: EVA users who are in space and need something small and fast to do diagnostical work with externally-accessed systems to effect repairs. Such systems will likely become regulated into being required on all spacecraft once the space age really hits, and many companies like Virgin and Tesla would likely be interested.

Imagine, an EVA tech outside scanning the hull of a satellite to do assessments on the micrometeoroid damage and determine penetration, presence of chemical residues (indicating blown fuel or presence of explosives indicating an attack), and whether or not there's electricity running through it still or if its shorting out.

Also, since these things have become so ingrained in pop culture, it's likely that they'll likely be argued at some point in the future to be part of the public domain because it's in the interest of the public to develop such compact systems. CBS stands to gain by permitting it, anyway, because people already associate them with the series, drawing more new eyeballs to their franchise.

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...if tricorders such as this are being developed for the medical and scientific industries, and we know that the MIC is on average 40-80 years ahead of the public, what do you think that the black budget types have developed...?
 
What does the word "tricorder" mean anyway? It's just a made-up name that sounds a bit techy. Supposedly, it refers to its three functions - sensing, recording and computing - but that is a bit of a stretch. Personally, I don't care what it's called. Most people aren't Star Trek fans and they won't care either.
 
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Surprised this wasn't already mentioned, but there was a licensed 'real working tricorder' back in the 90's made by a Canadian company. It was limited in what it could do, ie detect EMF radiation and colours, temperature, barimetric pressure, etc, and was classified as an educational device. At over $400 though, it was a pricy gadget and because of this the company couldn't interest enough buyers and it wasn't long before they went bankrupt. But I did manage to have a look at one personally through someone who had one and it looked and felt very convincing in that it made all the right sound effects to resemble a Tricorder from the shows.

http://treknostalgia.blogspot.com/2009/04/trek-tech-tricorder-mark-1.html
 
Owain Taggart said:
Surprised this wasn't already mentioned, but there was a licensed 'real working tricorder' back in the 90's made by a Canadian company. It was limited in what it could do, ie detect EMF radiation and colours, temperature, barimetric pressure, etc, and was classified as an educational device. At over $400 though, it was a pricy gadget and because of this the company couldn't interest enough buyers and it wasn't long before they went bankrupt. But I did manage to have a look at one personally through someone who had one and it looked and felt very convincing in that it made all the right sound effects to resemble a Tricorder from the shows.

http://treknostalgia.blogspot.com/2009/04/trek-tech-tricorder-mark-1.html
Click to expand...

That’s freaking sweet. In some ways, Star Trek takes itself much more seriously than Star Wars, such as real-world tech. This is a perfect example of that.

Probably made the purr-beep, too, huh?
 
I was thinking…how much does a tricorder do on its own…and how much does it use shipscans overhead for triangulation?

A passive system might be had…in fact:
https://www.naval-technology.com/ne...ar-system-using-starlink-satellite-radiation/

That is similar to ClimaCell/Hypercast…which uses cell towers to detect rain.

I have heard of passive millimetric cameras…—but with this and other tech…not only can we see through the murk…
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-thermal-imaging-ai-pitch-darkness.amp

-but perhaps through *skin* (with NeuWS):
https://phys.org/news/2023-06-neural-wavefront-camera-problem-optical.amp
 
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