The technology in Star Trek: Voyager still looks futuristic, and we would happily trade our folding phones like the Z Fold 3 or the Surface Duo 2 for this incredible recreation of one of them.
Producing a sci-fi TV series based on one of the most beloved franchises is not cheap. You have to build standing sets to recreate the interior of a giant starship, as well as alien worlds to construct, loads of special effects, and mountains of futuristic props for the cast to interact with. The tricorder, a futuristic device that can do almost anything a script requires of it, was supposed to be updated for Star Trek: Voyager, but concept sketches were not included.
At least one Star Trek: Voyager fan felt that was a great injustice, but instead of speaking out at a Star Trek convention, they built the Voyager Tricorder, as they call it, in real life. The first version that MangyDog built took over a year to build, but it looked like it was from the 24th century. The replica of the tricorder that Mangy Dog made for his friend looked even better than it did when it was first created.
The design and engineering process behind the Voyager Tricord V2 build is explained in three videos. The first video goes into some of the challenges of the hardware itself, including custom PCBs and problems with high-quality displays, while the second video goes into the user interface and animations created for the prop, which are all generated and rendered on the fly. The third video goes deeper into the internal hardware, including the custom PCB created for the project, and the extensive code that powers it.
The Voyager Tricorder V2 has many touch-sensitive buttons that can be used to switch between modes, or to make a secret feature known. The only thing this replica tricorder can actually do is make other Star Trek fans jealous, because it looks like the tricorder is actually scanning and interacting with its environment.
Wondering where our feed went? The new one can be picked up here.
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