A tricorder is a sophisticated handheld device used by many Alpha and Beta Quadrant races. The tricorder is designed as a portable sensing, data analysis, and data communications device, with many specialized abilities which make it an asset to crews aboard starships and space stations as well as on away missions. (TOS: "The Naked Time")
List of Tricorders
- Scanner
- Bajoran tricorder
- Cardassian tricorder
- Ferengi tricorder
- Klingon tricorder
- Romulan tricorder
- Starfleet tricorder
- Vulcan tricorder
See also
- Sensor devices
- Tools and technology
- Computer
Background
According to Stephen Whitfield in The Making of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry originally came up with the idea of the tricorder not only as a useful device but as "a potentially popular toy for female-type children".
The first "real-world" tricorder was developed by a Canadian company called the Vital Technologies Corporation in 1996. The scanner was called the TR-107 Mark 1; Vital Technologies sold 10,000 of them before going out of business in 1997. The TR-107 could scan EM radiation, temperature, and barometric pressure.
- The TR-107 is properly referred to as a true "tricorder" due to a clause in Gene Rodenberry's contracts with Desilu/Paramount dating back to the time of the Original Series. The clause specified that if any company could find a way to make one of the fictional devices actually work, then they would have the right to use the name.
Many research laboratories are developing, or have developed, portable scientific analysers. For example, Purdue University unveiled a suitcase-sized mass spectrometer in 2006 (the Mini 10), which was described as a "real-life tricorder" in later press releases. Truly handheld devices, based on lab-on-a-chip systems, are also in development. These are typically more specialised than the Star Trek equivalent, however it is believed that biomarker analysis will allow the development of a general-purpose medical instrument in the near future.
In the documentary Star Trek: Beyond The Final Frontier, Brannon Braga ironically states that although he didn't know what Tricorders do, that "they were probably used a little too often."