The Tricorder

[MajorD]

It only sounds absurd because we probably won't see it happen in our lifetimes.

It's true that the programs and the volumes of junk that you can collect easily keep pace with storage growth, and I expect that keeping of pace to continue into the future. Considering the holographic programs Trek has, I can believe an Internet -- of this moment -- size program. I can't imagine how complex the universal translator program must be. It's just that scanning that much information from nature in a matter of minutes or hours seems absurd, if not for the funky phenomena tricorders can pick up.

I like that holographic disk, it would be nice for the isolinear chips to have reflectivity like that.

I don't think it is too High Tech for Star trek (IMO Star Trek is the most High tech universe) it's just a different style (design)

Anyway they kept the same tricorder design for at least 11 years (2364~2375) so I think you should keep the tricorder from nemesis 

I don't think it's too high tech either. The Nemesis tricorder finally freed the design aesthetic from the shackles of the 1980's; a spine that projects a hologram would not be too out of place. At the same time I can see the other side, that the Nemesis tricorder is not that big a departure, so the PDA style needs to stick around for a while. At the very least, I would like to see an alien tricorder that goes for a very high concept design with either smart materials or holography. Not crappy scan-line holograms, but true to life Trek holograms.

Interestingly the human genome is only 3 billion base pairs (about 800 mb of data, enough for a usb stick?). Even allowing for a lot more data to be necessary for describing ribosomes, various cellular structures like organelles it would be possible to save the essense of the species on a hard drive [given not much is required to record diversity as even chimps share 94 percent of dna]. A lot less prone to annihilation if it came down to it..

With current use of magnetic domains on platters there is a theoratical limit on information density as the domain shrinks and the energy associated with magnetisation becomes close to random fluctuations [anyone know what it is called?], and current technology is rapidly approaching it..

Other technologies being developed look more promising.. I think
Gates said 64 kb was more ram than would be ever needed at one point..

You could fit roughly five people's worth of DNA on a cheap USB drive.

I think Wired had an article on this, or maybe Popular Science, but I can't remember the name of the phenomena either. What I do recall is they're going to use larger chunks of data which allots more space for data redundancy in order to make up for the self induced magnetic interference.

[Nikki]

But a drastical change isnt the right way in my opinion.

If you compare the Nemesis Tricorder with the one used in the 29th Century, you notice the overall design hasnt changed alot.

[11001001]

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070121075822/memoryalpha/en/images/1/1a/Medicaltricorder_2379.jpg

The grips on the side and to the bottom of the tricorder are very space consuming, it makes it look like someones gone round the screen with a knife but decided not to cut right through. I've never seen the 29th century tricoder but it does have the same basic elements and dimensions. If I had to choose, it would be the Nemesis one, just because of the screen, it seems more, modern.

[MajorD]

The 29th century one doesn't remind me of the Nemesis one at all, except the flatness.

I like to think the future tricorders all disappeared form the timeline after Nemesis.

[ii123]

Yes, and sorry to go off topic, but whenever anyone compares a compuuter to the human brain, the human beats hands down. The brain can store, 10 with 8,432 noughts behind it, terabytes worth of data thats alot. The only reason we dont recall eveything is becuase our brain can't recall everything, our brains degrade, neurons cease to exist, memory last only a few short hours, whereas computers do not.

Yes, and the brain has the ability to change it's hardware .. neuron plasticity..and run things in parallel/optimise its' compressions..

But I was talking about dna/cellular structures, which contain the blue print for the brain..sort of like a description of a million page book, not requiring a million pages..

You could fit roughly five people's worth of DNA on a cheap USB drive.

Far more than that given humans are basically identical, and you only need to store a list of unique variations, and which variations apply to subsequent induviduals.

If you assume an electron associated with an atom could be in 256 possible eigenstates, 1e34 atoms would require (256)^(1e34) possible states~=log ₂₅₆ (256^1e34)=1e34 bytes to store data..[assuming zero compressibility]..
1gram of hydrogen is approximately 1e24, so it would only require 10 billion grams=6 million kg [a small hill..] of highly exited hydrogen (to require exitation to 80 levels, lol) to require that much data..
Edited: arithmetic, adjusted states to represent 1 byte

If I had to choose, it would be the Nemesis one, just because of the screen, it seems more, modern.

Main aesthetic issue I have as well...
Alien races could incorporate translucency:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/10/28/lg.samsung.show.see.through.oled.displays/

http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2009/12/07/concept-cell-phone_05_i4PI7_22976.jpg

[11001001]

Thats what I mean the flatness, but I agree with you MajorD, it's a very ugly tricorder

[11001001]

Yes, and the brain has the ability to change it's hardware .. neuron plasticity..and run things in parallel/optimise its' compressions..

But I was talking about dna/cellular structures, which contain the blue print for the brain..sort of like a description of a million page book, not requiring a million pages..

Far more than that given humans are basically identical, and you only need to store a list of unique variations, and which variations apply to subsequent induviduals.

DNA, which as you say is the blueprint of all living things is near enough identical, it's the genes inside which makes us different. Thats the thing that changes over the years, for the last 4 billion years, DNA has changed very little, it has just got more complex

[Nikki]

The 29th century one doesn't remind me of the Nemesis one at all, except the flatness.

I like to think the future tricorders all disappeared form the timeline after Nemesis.

Well they used the 29th Century Tricorder Prop on "Endgame" that way sway before Nemesis
Although its a nice concept they did there. It looked nice in the show.

Granted the Nemesis Tricorder looks more up-to-date

[MajorD]

Main aesthetic issue I have as well...
Alien races could incorporate translucency:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/10/28/lg.samsung.show.see.through.oled.displays/

http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2009/12/07/concept-cell-phone_05_i4PI7_22976.jpg

Transparent screens can be useful, but I think it is most useful if used to create a data overlay for whatever you look at through the device, like we were discussing for the glasses. The screens should be opaque when all you are doing is reading information and not scanning something. It should also be able to determine the angle at which you are looking through the glass, so it acts like an actual window into a virtual environment.

That's embarrassingly crappy, but whatever.

Granted the Nemesis Tricorder looks more up-to-date

That's the thing, it is better both in looks and functionality, but they only put it in line with modern technology, rather than beyond.

[Furyofaseraph]

That's embarrassingly crappy, but whatever.That's the thing, it is better both in looks and functionality, but they only put it in line with modern technology, rather than beyond.

Any artistic endeavor is affected by the time in which it is made.

[MajorD]

The problem is that design in Trek stagnated, played catchup in Nemesis but couldn't go far enough because of that earlier heal dragging. 

Here is, Earth: Final Conflict.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv7p8GkLm1w&NR=1
 Go to 6:55 and you'll see a global. It's a cell phone, computer, camera, with a touch screen that can be pulled out about a foot. Earlier in the episode, the main character even uses one to detonate a bomb in a car. Now that's a neat device. I think it could even do information overlays of what it was seeing, but it's been a long time since I've seen the show. That episode was also from 1997.

[Brex]

Sounds good, but Youtube is being weird and the video flash object thingie won't load :S

Anyway, i've updated the back to have a camera, it does look horrible and tacky but it also looks like the 'holo imager' we saw in 'In the Flesh (VOY)' (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080830083942/memoryalpha/en/images/c/cf/Holophotography_camera.jpg)
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7022505/Tricorder/Excalibur%20Tricorder%202%20-%20Back.png
I could remove it, and then for pictures it would have to be iPhone style with a lens at the top left. However even though the camera would have to be used in portrait... the camera lens could be a wide lens that can rotate, instead of rotating the whole device.

[matt.oracle]

Hi. Firstly congrates to the Excalibur team for the great work they have done to date. I look forward to the day in which I can play what is shaping up to be the penultimate Star Trek game.

Ok, back to the tricorder.

I have had a good read of what everyone has posted up here on the forum, and I thought I'd show you my mockup that I did quickly this afternoon. I have taken elements from some prop tricorder designs I have done in the past and then modelled it with respect and homage to the design concepts shown in the original TNG and voyager clamshell tricorder designs.

I have gone for the clamshell look of the traditional TNG tricorder rather than the Nemesis look of the (what I think was an 11th hour design) pimped up PDA. Personally I think that the PDA look resembles current technology too much- the Nemesis PDA tricorder in my book looks like just that -an old Palm PDA with some stuck on additions. Not something you would expect for something in the 2380s and not really consistent with what we have seen of the technology timeline of Star Trek (I mean just look at the Relativity Tricorder shown on Voyager- still clamshaped hundreds of years later). However, I think that the direction of the full touch screen with LCARS was the way to go, so I have eliminated interior buttons for full LCARS interface with the clamshell providing the protection to the screen- the most fragile part of the tricorder.

One element I did like from the Nemesis tricorder (and Voyager 'Endgame tricorder' and 'Relativity tricorder') is the simplified sensor panel with just the single row sequence of bright LEDs. Personally I think the bright blue look the best- but one could imagine that the colours of the band could change for Geological, Meteorological and Biological scan settings. (Side note- I keep seeing 'MET' referred to as anything but Meteorological on a lot on other websites and I think someone on the forum mentioned an alternate meaning here too. I can find the reference if I really dig though my library, but I am pretty sure it was in both the TNG companion and the Voyager design book that it is referred to as Meteorological scan pre-set0. The sensor panel retracts into the body of the unit to protect them, similar to the way in which the sensors 'flip' up on the Nemesis tricorder, best shown in Elite Force 2.

With the full LCARS interface screen, the tricorder has augmented reality capabilities similar to what 'MajorD' has proposed acting like an actual window with overlaid additional information from the LCARS environment.

The graphical user interface obviously was done quickly but you get the idea. Anyhow hope this helps.

Cheers

[11001001]

Thats brilliant, but you know when your holding the tricorder, can you scan with the sensor at the front, or place an object infront of it and scan that way?

[ii123]

I have had a good read of what everyone has posted up here on the forum, and I thought I'd show you my mockup that I did quickly this afternoon.

With the full LCARS interface screen, the tricorder has augmented reality capabilities similar to what 'MajorD' has proposed acting like an actual window with overlaid additional information from the LCARS environment.

Impressive. MajorDs' overlay idea works very well..
Its possible to have an extensible overlay with a paper thin translucent screen..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U--l6jQWFck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6bkmPjVF-k&feature=PlayList&p=AB8CC557FB51FCB9&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbTO5VM6s-4

I expect that with the selectivity required to perform extensive/varied functions, a cursor assisted input mode would need to be used.

Welcome to the forum!!!

[Furyofaseraph]

Do like Matt.Oracle's idea.

[furswift]

Do like Matt.Oracle's idea.

I agree. I think it's a great design, the best I've seen so far.

[Chris]

matt.oracle: I like the design of the Tricorder, good job.

Ignoring the UI, it looks like it could be from "Mass Effect 1/2" (I think it is the blue that does that )

[MajorD]

matt.oracle, I'm in love with your design, and I want to have little baby tricorders with it. This is easily the best first post ever.

You're design has already given me an idea. The screen can have physical projections from the surface for tactile feedback, using a smart material. In the game, bump maps can be used to create the appearance of those buttons forming from the surface.

Lastly, I really like the deploying sensor lights, especially for the idea of them color changing depending on sensing mode.

The tricorder will also needs to be smart enough not to detect the hand holding the device. That would be funny if it wouldn't exclude the holding hand.

[11001001]

I just wandered, are we going to have the sound effect with the tricorder aswell, as seen in the shows?