Every year, generations of geeks celebrate the impact of "Star Wars" on their lives. Why this day? Because "May the 4th Be With You." While the younger generation of "Star Wars" fans are just entering the work force, the older generation that grew up on the original trilogy have been around long enough for some of them to become scientists and engineers. Here is some "Star Wars"-inspired technology that either actually exists, or is quickly on its way into our galaxy.

Probe Droids

Here's a piece of advice: If you ever see one of these, don't let your Wookie shoot at it.

Of course, in our universe, the closest thing to the Empire's floating Viper Probe Droid from "The Empire Strikes Back" is the drone -- specifically the hovering quadcopter drone. Also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), these drones can hover in place because of their four-rotor design and are incredibly maneuverable. They're used for both military applications and are becoming much more common in civilian life too, like for photography, farming and terrifying onlookers.


Let's see the Empire's Viper pull off those tricks!

74-Z Speeder Bikes

In "Return of the Jedi," there's an intense scene where Luke and Leia race through a redwood forest on impossibly fast hovering speeder bikes to stop Storm Troopers from announcing their presence to the Emperor. A company in Manhattan Beach, California, called Aerofex has created the closest real-life equivalent to the "Star Wars"speeder bikes.


Sure, it doesn't go as fast as the movie's version, but at 30 miles per hour, this incredibly cool hover bike would still be a thrill to ride.

Big Laser Cannons

What would "Star Wars"be without laser-filled space battles, much less the Death Star's world-destroying mega-laser? The U.S. Navy took a page out of "Star Wars" (also every other sci-fi space adventure, ever) and is going to deploy a prototype Laser Weapon System (LaWS) on the USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf this summer. The prototype is a high-energy laser that can take down unmanned, light aircraft and small attack boats "at the speed of light with extreme precision and an unlimited magazine," as the Navy put it.

In other words: Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battlesta... er, "Austin-class amphibious transport dock"!


Artificial Limbs

Luke loses his hand but gets an artificial one instead. Anakin loses much more but can still terrorize the galaxy as Darth Vader (spoilers!) through the magic of artificial limbs. In real life, this life-changing technology is quickly being developed. Year after year, artificial limbs become more capable, more subtle and more responsive to the needs of veterans and the disabled, who are suddenly getting a part of their life back or gaining abilities they never had before.

The latest in artificial prosthesis technology mirrors "Star Wars" more closely than you might imagine. When Luke's artificial hand is first installed at the end of "The Empire Strikes Back," the medical droid pokes his fingers with a sharp prod to make sure he's correctly feeling through the limb.

Recently researchers have implanted small electrodes in the peripheral nerves of a Danish amputee's limb, making his artificial hand essentially "feel" through the prosthesis. "It's so amazing to feel something that you haven't been able to feel for so many years," sensory limb-tester Dennis Sørensen said to National Geographic.


Lightsabers!

Okay, to be fair, we don't have real lightsabers yet. But we have two possibilities that are pretty close.

One comes from a breakthrough in Harvard and MIT labs last year, where researchers have created a new state of matter called "Photonic Molecules." Photons, light particles considered to be massless, don't normally interact with each other. But the joint research team, coincidentally led by a man named Mikhail Lukin, has been able to make photons interact with each other like normal particles. Meaning light that acts like it's somewhat solid (for the technical details, read their paper in Nature).

Next stop, lightsabers? Probably not, but it's a step.

For those of you that can't wait for the geniuses at MIT to actually create a workign lightsaber, Wicked Lasers has created the Saber, the closest thing to looking like you're a real Jedi. And it only costs about $100.


Not to disappoint the potential saber-wielders out there, but while it's a dangerous piece of equipment, and not a toy, it can't cut anything like a lightsaber.

(Thank goodness!)

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