Categories: Technology

Custom Handheld Laser Raises Hope Of A Real Lightsaber [Video]

Not too long ago, most Star Wars enthusiasts’ dreams of one day wielding a real lightsaber were crushed. It was said that in order to generate the energy necessary to fuel a lightsaber, we would literally have to harness a power too great to ever be put into a handheld device. This put a jolt through the hopes of one day even holding a real lightsaber. Well, don’t be discouraged by the science behind it all since one brave home tinkerer has been able to build a custom handheld laser that once again raises hope.

This custom handheld build comes from “Styropyro,” a rather innovative designer who decided that science was not going to stop him from at least wielding a slimmer version of a lightsaber. By pulling a diode from a DLP projector and using a pair of 18650 Lithium Ion batteries (which you can find in laptop computers for example), he managed to power the diode in overdrive. The result is a thin, custom, handheld laser lightsaber that in the right conditions (like in a smokey room), looks just like a lightsaber.

Sure, this is far from being a powerful Jedi weapon, but it’s the generated power that we are looking at here. By putting a number of objects in front of the laser, Styropyro demos the intensity of the laser generated, and it’s nothing less than impressive to watch. Imagine if you put several of these diodes together into a thicker and more powerful laser beam. You would actually have something that would be similar to a real lightsaber.

The real challenge is of course making the laser beam stop after a certain distance. How that will ever be possible is probably up to science itself. So either way, if you want this handheld laser to mimic the properties of a real lightsaber, I guess you will have to incorporate science into all of it regardless. At least we’re getting closer to a custom handheld lightsaber that might one day become a reality. For now, we can just drool over Styropyro’s custom creation and marvel.

Styropyro’s Custom Handheld Laser Lightsaber Build

Via: [Hackaday]

Richard Darell

Richard Darell is the founder and CEO of Bit Rebels, a multifaceted online news outlet that reports daily on the latest developments in technology, social media, design and everything geek. Today this media entity welcomes more than 3.5 million unique visitors per month and is considered the go-to place for people in constant motion. As an Internet entrepreneur, he is dedicated to constantly trying to develop new ways to bring content faster and closer to the end user in a more streamlined way. His excitement for statistics has allowed him to further develop systems that continuously produce accurate and fast-paced analytics to better optimize the approach by which Bit Rebels presents news and content. His graphic design background has proven to be an important tool when designing new systems and features for Bit Rebels since the development of solid and stable code depends entirely on their structure and implemented procedures. Richard currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden and directs the Bit Rebels offices in both Stockholm and Atlanta. You can reach Richard at richard@bitrebels.com