 |
Science Fiction Dictionary: Ideas, Terms and Technology
(
3793 Inventions Available)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| Device Name | Book/Story | Author | Date |
| Wabbler An autonomous underwater robot. |
The Wabbler | Leinster | 1942 |
| WAGD Germ Detector A hand-held biohazard analyzer. |
Quantico | Bear | 2007 |
| Wakeshot An injection designed to bring a person out of sleep to full wakefulness. |
Dune | Herbert | 1965 |
| Waldo A telefactoring device; also known as the Waldo F. Jones Synchronous Reduplicating Pantograph. |
Waldo | Heinlein | 1942 |
| Walker Wagon Robotic vehicle with a trough-like body and many mechanical legs. |
Farmer in the Sky | Heinlein | 1950 |
| Walking Balloon A means of efficiently traversing rough country. |
In the Deep of Time | Lathrop | 1897 |
| Walking Fort A biomimetic fort based on the model of a centipede. |
The Killing Machine | Vance | 1964 |
| Walking Mill The ultimate combine - giant metal centipede walks through fields, harvesting wheat, threshing, grinding and finally baking bread right in the field. |
Bread Overhead! | Leiber | 1958 |
| Wall Screen A large size display for video, anchored to a wall, or actually forming the wall itself. |
Star of Dreams | Williamson | 1941 |
| Wall-Light The walls of a room provide illumination. |
Foundation and Empire | Asimov | 1952 |
| Wandering Mine A landmine with legs. |
Half the Day is Night | McHugh | 1994 |
| Wandering Sunless Planet A planet that is not bound to a star. |
Dead Hand | Asimov | 1946 |
| Wandering Worlds Planets that are attached to no sun, and roam interstellar space. |
When Worlds Collide | Balmer (w/P. Wylie) | 1932 |
| Wango Wave Energy surge that accompanies the entrance into, and exit from, overdrive outside of normal space. |
Propagandist | Leinster | 1947 |
| War-Balloon (Navigable Aerostat) Enormous dirigible airships used for war. |
The Angel of the Revolution | Griffith | 1893 |
| Warp-Speed Faster than light spaceships. |
Yachting Party | Holden | 1952 |
| WatchdØg (Watchdog) |
WatchdØg | Haldeman | 1972 |
| Watchphone A combination cell phone and wrist watch. |
Islands in the Net | Sterling | 1988 |
| Water Bulb A zero-gee dispenser of liquids. |
The Space Merchants | Pohl (w/CM Kornbluth) | 1952 |
| Water Bulb A zero-g way to enjoy water. |
The Space Merchants | Pohl (w/CM Kornbluth) | 1952 |
| Water From Lunar Gypsum Extracting water (and therefore oxygen, by electrolysis) from apparently dry lunar material. |
The Moon is Hell | Campbell | 1950 |
| Water Pool Cushions Acceleration The use of water to cushion and protect against extreme ship accelerations. |
The Derelicts of Ganymede | Campbell | 1932 |
| Water Repellent Surface A surface that water flows over without sticking at all. |
Dune | Herbert | 1965 |
| Waterbed (Hydraulic Bed) A bed that uses water instead of springs and stuffing. |
Stranger in a Strange Land | Heinlein | 1961 |
| Watercouch A couch filled with water, rather than springs and cushions. |
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon | Pohl | 1980 |
| Water-Springs Using water to cushion the living space of a spacecraft from the effects of acceleration. |
From the Earth to the Moon | Verne | 1867 |
| Watertube Carries water to and from the catchpockets in a Fremen stillsuit. |
Dune | Herbert | 1965 |
| Waveform Hypothesis |
Backbeat - A Novel of Physics | Arment | 2004 |
| Way Station A device used to transport individuals across the galaxy. |
Way Station | Simak | 1963 |
| Way Station Materializer By sending impulses that describe a creature from star to star, transport across the galaxy is accomplished. |
Way Station | Simak | 1963 |
| Weapon Sound Tracker Locate an enemy by the sound of gunfire. |
Quantico | Bear | 2007 |
| Wearable White-Noise Generator A device worn when the wearer preferred not to be the subject of audio recordings. |
Idoru | Gibson | 1996 |
| Wearables Slang for 'wearable computer.' |
Fast Times At Fairmont High | Vinge | 2001 |
| Wearables (Wearable Computers) Computers and peripherals that use textiles for electronic circuitry. |
Rainbows End | Vinge | 2006 |
| Weary Deep-Sleep Phildickian old-sleep. |
Lies, Inc. | Dick | 1964 |
| Weather Integrator An entire technology for controlling the weather. |
Methuselah's Children | Heinlein | 1941 |
| Weather Machine A device for controlling the weather. |
Slaves of Mercury | Schachner | 1932 |
| Weather Pod Imperial technology available to planetologists only. |
Dune: House Harkonnen | Herbert | 2001 |
| Web (Data Network) An information network. |
Souvenir | Dick | 1954 |
| Webcast A broadcast accomplished over a data network. |
Armageddon Blues | Moran | 1987 |
| Webeye Communications device with a camera, microphone, zoom lens, projector, etc.; can be sprayed on. |
The Ringworld Throne | Niven | 1996 |
| Webfoam Cradle A means of softening the landing for humans inside spacecraft. |
The Man in the Maze | Silverberg | 1969 |
| Websight A way of visualizing the Internet internally. |
WWW: Wake | Sawyer | 2009 |
| Week Trees Specially engineered bonsai that could grow in a week, instead of decades. |
Wetware | Rucker | 1988 |
| Weightless Work Area A small workspace within which there is no gravitational pull. |
Galactic Pot-Healer | Dick | 1969 |
| Weightlessness The state experienced in free fall; a space traveler's weight is apparently reduced to zero. |
From the Earth to the Moon | Verne | 1867 |
| Weightlessness (Kepler) The notion that there could be a location with zero effective gravity. |
Somnium (The Dream) | Kepler | 1634 |
| Weightlessness in Space This appears to be the first description of the idea of weightlessness in space. |
The Man in the Moone | Godwin | 1638 |
| Weight-Shoes Devices intended to make it easier to walk on celestial bodies with weaker gravity. |
The World With A Thousand Moons | Hamilton | 1942 |
| Welton Cube High-density storage device. |
Time Enough For Love | Heinlein | 1973 |
| Wende A change, a turning point, a reversal of culture and politics. |
Deep Eddy | Sterling | 1993 |
| Whale Waldo An electromechanical whale "suit" that obeys and amplifies your body's motions. |
Sundiver | Brin | 1979 |
| Wheelchair Space Station A home in space. |
Waldo | Heinlein | 1942 |
| Whisper Line A means of communication between prisoners held in wide separation. |
The Stars My Destination | Bester | 1956 |
| Whispering Gallery A means of communication in specifically shaped spaces. |
Journey to the Center of the Earth | Verne | 1864 |
| Whologram Presents a realistic illusion. |
Super-Toys Last All Summer Long | Aldiss | 1969 |
| Wholographik Hologram-style picture. |
Stand on Zanzibar | Brunner | 1968 |
| Whoopee Drive Spacecraft propulsion. |
Space Angel | Roberts | 1979 |
| Whuffie A system in which one's actions, as perceived by others, directly procure the necessities of life; reputation-based currency. |
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom | Doctorow | 2003 |
| Wildcode A vast, actual desert comprised of nanites, nanomachines. |
The Fractal Prince | Rajaniemi | 2012 |
| Wimp A special-purpose body; grown without personality, but physically intact. |
Millenium | Varley | 1983 |
| Wimp Vault Lots of spare bodies. |
Millenium | Varley | 1983 |
| Windmill Mast Enclosed machinery in large masts powers ships. |
A Journey In Other Worlds | Astor IV | 1894 |
| Window Wavelength Display's that provide 'views' as if they were windows. |
Super-Toys Last All Summer Long | Aldiss | 1969 |
| Window-Cleaner Robots Robots that perform the task of cleaning and polishing transparent surfaces. |
Rendezvous With Rama | Clarke | 1972 |
| Window-Willie A robot that cleaned windows by electrostatic repulsion of dust and grime. |
The Door Into Summer | Heinlein | 1956 |
| Windtrap A device which precipitates water from the air for use by people. |
Dune | Herbert | 1965 |
| Wine Pellets Fine wine in convenient, dried form. |
Redmask of the Outlands | Schachner | 1934 |
| Winged Rocket Shuttle A sort of plane that briefly reached space while traveling between points on a planet. |
Between Planets | Heinlein | 1951 |
| Win-Reducing Gambling Circuit Circuitry in a game that detects winning strategies and then alters the game to make winning more difficult. |
Return Match | Dick | 1967 |
| Wintermute An artificially intelligent computer system. |
Neuromancer | Gibson | 1984 |
| Wire Act A person with special hardware modifications that allow him or her to create music by bodily movement. |
Freezone | Shirley | 1985 |
| Wire Gun Shoots a length of constricting wire. |
Shadow Gold | Cummings | 1936 |
| Wired Glove Interface Display A large screen display that uses a wired glove interface. |
Minority Report (Movie) | Spielberg | 2002 |
| Wire-Gun Device that aids movement in microgravity. |
Mobile Suit Gundam | Tomino | 1979 |
| Wireless Access Point Infrastructure that provides power and wireless communication. |
Men Like Gods | Wells | 1923 |
| Wireless Wrist Intercom A portable wireless intercom, worn on the wrist. |
The Shape of Things To Come | Wells | 1936 |
| Womb Room The ultimate ship's bridge. |
A World Out of Time | Niven | 1976 |
| Word Tab A feature of an e-paper document; touch the word tab and get more information. |
Cantata 140 | Dick | 1964 |
| Workplace Distancing A computer application that arranges that workers never encounter each other, to reduce gossiping and wasted time. |
Manna | Brain | 2002 |
| Worldcraft Bubble An incredibly detailed mechanical simulation of a world. |
The Trouble With Bubbles | Dick | 1953 |
| Worldweb All Thing Network connects billions of people in real time. |
Hyperion | Simmons | 1989 |
| Wreck-Pack An agglomeration of wrecked spacecraft drawn together by mutual gravitational attraction in the 'dead area' of the solar system. |
The Sargasso of Space | Hamilton | 1931 |
| Wrist Command A wearable communications device; the logical endpoint of mobile computing. |
Tides of Light | Benford | 1989 |
| Wrist Search Display A wearable device that uses its own search beam to view scenes close by. |
A Matter of Size | Bates | 1934 |
| Wristband Viewer A device for viewing aerial surveillance images that fits on your wrist. |
Changeling | Zelazny | 1980 |
| Wristpad A tablet computer worn on the wrist. |
New York 2140 | Robinson | 2017 |
| Wunderland Treatymaker A weapon based on a power mining technique - a bit more advanced than a shovel. |
Ringworld Engineers | Niven | 1980 |
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Didn't find
what you were looking for?
Want to Submit
an Item? Comments? Corrections? Contact
us!
Technovelgy.com is devoted to the creative inventions, devices and technology of science fiction authors and movie makers. Look for the Science Fiction Invention Category that interests you, the 3,300+ item Dictionary of Science Fiction, the Science Fiction Timeline, or see what's New. Read more than 6,000 science fiction made real stories - Science Fiction in the News.
Science Fiction
in
the News
Barista Robot Perfects Latte Swirl With Multi-DOF Wriggle
re: Anthony Boucher
(9/11/2023)
Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels
re: Neal Stephenson
(9/9/2023)
Safe Street Rebel Autonomous Vehicle Luddites And Schachner's 1931 Robot-Deranger
re: Schachner and Zagat
(9/7/2023)
The Electric Balance Bicycle And The Decline Of Western Civilization
re: David H. Keller
(9/5/2023)
'Droplet' Battery Microscale Power Pack
re: Alfred Bester
(9/3/2023)
ARX-5 Doing Robot Arm Dancing
re: Fritz Lang
(9/1/2023)
CD, DVD Bit Rot And PKD's Civic Notification Distorter
re: Philip K. Dick
(8/29/2023)
Inbiodroid Prometheus 2.0 Telepresence Avatar Robot
re: Manly Wade Wellman
(8/27/2023)
Amazon One Is Frank Herbert's Palm Lock
re: Frank Herbert
(8/25/2023)
DroneDog Ground Security Robot Dogs From Asylon
re: Neal Stephenson
(8/23/2023)
Who Knows What Might Be Found When Visiting A Metal Asteroid?
re: EC Tubb
(8/21/2023)
Giant Lunar Surface Test Bed Built On Earth
re: Various
(8/19/2023)
FlyCroTug Drones Work In Teams Now
re: James P. Hogan
(8/17/2023)
Zai Pits (West Sahel) And Dew Collectors (Dune)
re: Frank Herbert
(8/15/2023)
Delivery Robots Being Bullied, Robbed
re: Philip K. Dick
(8/13/2023)
Zoom Education Idea Is 100 Years Old
re: Harry Stephen Keeler
(8/11/2023)
Unitree H1 General-Purpose Humanoid Robot
re: Robert Heinlein
(8/9/2023)
Solar X-Flares Disrupt North American Radio And Navigation
re: Jack Williamson
(8/7/2023)
Restructure An Asteroid, Spin It, Get A 'Space Habitat' With Gravity?
re: John Campbell
(8/5/2023)
Teslas Have Minds, Says Elon Musk
re: Frederik Pohl
(8/3/2023)
Quadruple-Star System Now Forming
re: Stanton Coblentz
(8/1/2023)
Are You Ready To Zoom With Dr. ChatGPT?
re:
(7/29/2023)
Away Rude Mechanicals! I Want Self-Sensing Variable-Stiffness Artificial Muscles.
re: HG Wells
(7/27/2023)
Machete-Wielding Philodendron Isn't Going To Take It Anymore
re: Eric Frank Russell
(7/25/2023)
