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The various TV series and movies that make up the Star Trek universe have inspired many people all over the world. In this series we’ll take a look at how Star Trek has inspired today’s technology.

In the final of this four part series we’ll look to a virtual reality-fuelled future, and talk a little trivia.

Holodecks: Holograms on steroids

With 3D devices appearing everywhere at the moment, along with devices like Xbox Kinect, it’s clear that some kind of ‘virtual reality’ system isn’t far away now.

In Star Trek, this virtual reality occurred on Holodecks. A holodeck was a space where a series of fields of energy were created to present an environment to the user that appears to be real.

The artificial intelligence systems completed the illusion by providing characters that crew members could interact with, and even befriend.

Many episodes in the more modern Star Trek series were based around the idea of escaping into holodecks, falling in love with characters within the holodecks, and even crew members being fooled with holodeck trickery.

Trivia: NASA’s Space Shuttle Enterprise

Few people know that the Space Shuttle Enterprise wasn’t named after a navy vessel, but was in fact named after the very Enterprise that featured in the Star Trek: The Original Series. In fact, the name was chosen after a letter-writing campaign by Trekkies to President Gerald Ford.

Looking forward

As computers become more powerful, devices become smaller, and batteries become more efficient, many more Star Trek-inspired technologies will be brought to life.

Data – the Android that served on the Enterprise D and beyond – may be wandering around your local shopping centre by the end of the next decade, buying food for his cat.

You may be interested in

• Inspired by Star Trek – Part 1
• Inspired by Star Trek – Part 2
• Inspired by Star Trek – Part 3
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• 5 device features you don’t need. You agree?