To say that the Star Wars universe has had a bit of an impact on modern culture would be like saying that the Death Star had a bit of an impact on Alderaan. The franchise is the second highest-grossing film series of all time, having been overtaken by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which currently comprises 18 individual movies, compared to Star Wars’ ten. Many of its characters and concepts have become household names, and it brought sci-fi out of the ghettos of geekdom and into the mainstream.
What you don’t often hear about is the Star Wars universe’s contribution to science. It might well be that the films, games, toys and other assorted paraphernalia have been instrumental in getting a lot of people interested in science, space and laser technology in the first place. Its scientific realism is just as often called into question, however.
Famously, it’s often been pointed out that you can’t hear sounds in the vacuum of space. The zap-vroom soundtrack of space dogfights has been retroactively explained (by some accounts, the pilots get simulated electromagnetic disturbances translated and played into their cockpits), but let’s face it, the science of Star Wars isn’t always sound.
Could Star Wars droids inspire the next NASA robots?
According to one robotics expert, however, one area in which we can look to emulate Star Wars science is the field of robotics. Star Wars robots – or droids as they’re known – such as R2-D2 and BB-8 are some of the franchise’s most popular characters. R2-D2 is the only character to appear in every Star Wars film to date, in fact, and they have some features that our own space industry could use.
Writing in the Science Robotics journal, NASA robotics engineer W. Kris Verdeyen points out that “NASA does not have quite the same need for battlefield fixes as the Rebel Alliance.”
It is heavily invested in the field of robotics, however, and Verdeyen has spent years working on Valkyrie, a NASA robot paving the way by testing technologies for an envisaged future generation of robots that could replace human astronauts in some of their more dangerous tasks. Robonaut 2 has also been helping out on the International Space Station since 2011, carrying out tasks such as changing air filters.
Autonomous and packed with tools
Valkyrie and Robonaut 2 are both humanoid robots, so models in the near future might not look like R2-D2 and BB-8. What they might share with Star Wars’ astromechs, however, are the suites of handy tools and the autonomy. NASA might not require battlefield fixes, but R2-D2’s ability to solder electronic circuitry under fire could feasibly emulate real conditions where a robot has to undertake repairs in a hostile environment.
As for autonomy, Verdeyen likes the idea of robots that have comprehensive schematic knowledge of the craft that they are assigned to and that can make decisions independently from any human controllers.
NASA is currently working on embedded intelligence, and the appearance of an R2-D2 might be closer than you think.
