The Top Eight Gadgets That Should Be Next From Back To The Future II

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After the amazing revelation this week that the self-tying shoes from Back To The Future II are finally a reality, it’s not surprising that I got to wondering. Yes, you probably know where I’m going with this: today I’m putting up a list of the top eight things I’d like to see somebody–ANYBODY!–develop from Back to the Future II. Oh, and they’ve still got some time yet; the events of Back to the Future II, at least the future elements, take place in 2015, which is still a full five years off yet. Okay, more like four and a third or so, but still–plenty of time to get cracking.

8. Robotic waiters

At the Cafe 80s, when Marty poses as his own son in a bid to fend off an incident that destroys his family, Marty runs into a couple familiar faces as the Ayatollah Khomeini and Ronald Reagan vie to take his drink order. This is actually not too far off, as we discovered earlier with a robot that could take drink orders at a touchtop table and then bring your orders by moving through a crowd. Maybe it won’t talk like Michael Jackson in his “Beat It” years, but it’s a distinct possibility.

7. Pizza Hut rehydrators

The first time I saw this thing, I wanted one. When Pizza Hut pizzas come in what look like Mylar packages the size of your hand and can be expanded into larges in a matter of seconds, it opens up a lot of exciting possibilities–like storing enough pizza in your freezer to last for an entire long winter. While this particular tech is already in use on some levels–especially for campers–it’s not quite this readily available.

6. Credible video calling

Watching Marty’s future boss Mr. Fujitsu–the Jitz to his subordinates–rail into him made me realize that our current grade of video calling is pretty low-rent by comparison. Stuttery frames, dropped bits here and there…it just doesn’t work near as well. However, since we actually have the technology, it’s all a matter of refination at this point. Hopefully in five years’ time we can get it all ironed out.

5. Automated fruit gardens

Home grown fruit is a great thing. To take a quick walk into the back yard and pluck an apple from your own tree is an exhilarating sort of freedom, even if it can be difficult to grow your own food, especially at first. The Garden Center fruit dispenser does an excellent job of bringing vitamin-rich fruit to the dinner table and make it easily accessible. How it works, however, is something of a mystery…growing plants in a highly contained environment like a ceiling is a real puzzle. It’s possible, I suppose, especially with certain design changes to a house like a skylight to let in sun or grow lights, and a bit of water piping to keep the plants watered. No clue where this is on the old tech tree, or how far we are from having one.

4. Mr. Fusion

Imagine if you will a device that can take your garbage, break it down into its component atoms, and then smash those atoms together to create fusion power, and do it all in your very own home. This is the basic principle behind Mr. Fusion, and a goal that scientists have been pushing for for years. They’re still a ways off, especially when converting it for home use, but the principles are in place. It’s just the execution that’s giving us the problems.

3.Holographic advertising

This is actually closer than we think. Consider if you will the recent moves toward glasses-free 3D imaging. Even holography has made some advancements. Sure, we’re a long way from having Jaws actually lunge out of a rooftop and engulf a passing patron, but as was the case with video calling, we have the tech, we just need to refine it. Another one of those great items that’s closer than we think.

2. Hover converters

Perhaps the second most eagerly anticipated item, the ability to convert your car into a hovercraft, while also leaving its road capabilities in tact, may well be the most prized of all by some. Destroying the airline industry, mass transit, and several other industries in the process, hover conversion that allows you almost magical powers over gravity is something that we’re nowhere near. While we do have hovercraft technology–most anyone with sufficient cash can buy their own, and some have even been made with leaf blowers–but having a hovercraft capable of higher-altitude travel is a long shot.

1. Hoverboards

Easily the most sought after of the list–kids have approached these with almost universal longing from the moment they saw them–the hoverboard is one of those items that’s still in progress. We hear something about them occasionally, but it usually winds up to be some vaporware or string of promises ready to be broken. Most hovercrafts we currently have are entirely too large to be sufficiently shrunk down to make personal-sized hoverboards. And the idea of using magnetic levitation is possible, but would require a track to effectively run. This may well be farther off than the hover-capable car.

Some parts of Back to the Future II are already here. Other parts are easily attainable by 2015. But some look to exceed our grasp for some time to come, and all this does is show the incredible predictive power of science fiction. So that’s the list of the top eight things I want someone working on from Back To The Future II. Hopefully, we’ll see the stragglers make it across the finish line by 2015.

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