TechFinitive x FlashForward
“Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are.” - credit: originally 20th Century Fox, now called 20th Century Studios

Alien’s Motion Detector – how’s it tracking in 2023?

TechFinitive x FlashForward is our new, exclusive newsletter. Every fortnight, we pick a technology featured in a classic movie and fast forward to where it’s at today. Subscribe to it on Substack so that you’re notified every time a new edition goes out. This edition was originally published on 27 July.

Flashback: A platoon of locked and loaded space marines head to a storm-lashed planet to rescue some cosmic colonists. Despite warnings from Sigourney Weaver’s alien-battling hero Ripley, the cocky grunts are supremely confident in their high-tech smart guns, badass armoured car and portable motion detectors. This handheld motion tracker can “see” through walls, leading to suspense-filled scenes as the screen fills with green blobs swarming towards our heroes… 

Flashforward: In the first Alien movie, directed by Ridley Scott and released in 1979, the crew of the spaceship Nostromo faced a deadly space creature. In an attempt to find it within the shadows of their cavernous spaceship, they cobbled together a crude device that detected “micro changes in air density”. A more advanced model of motion tracker was dreamed up by writer and director James Cameron to add suspense and combat action to his classic sci-fi sequel Aliens.

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In 2019, a startup named Lumineye won a US Army competition to receive funding for a lightweight motion-tracking device called the Lux. According to the company, the 3D-printed gadget uses radar waves to detect movement up to 30 or 40ft away, through walls, smoke and fire.

But the key ingredient is software that differentiates humans from other objects. In the film, the tracker sends out waves that register movement on the screen, along with (very stressful) sonar-like pinging sounds which get louder and louder. In real life, Lumineye’s device displays movement on an everyday tablet.

The movie’s motion tracker only recognises movement on one plane. The supposedly battle-hardened marines have somehow never noticed this glaring drawback, so are outwitted by the alien horde’s fiendish strategy of coming at them from a slight angle. Let’s hope a real-life version is a little smarter.

The military invested for obvious reasons, but a motion tracker could also save lives in the hands of first responders and emergency services carrying out search and rescue operations. For example, finding people trapped in rubble or uncovering hostages.  

We haven’t heard much about the Lumineye device since then. But there are various ways such a device should work, such as millimetre-wave detection. The human body emits millimetre-wave radiation waves which pass through solid objects, so movements as small as heartbeats and respiration can be spotted even beyond walls, fog, rain and other obscuring environmental factors. Millimetre-wave radar is used on Apache attack helicopters to track targets from the other side of a hill or trees. 

Who should make one?

We’d love to see this built by literally anyone that isn’t backed by the military, so a real-life motion tracker could become a tool for saving people, on this planet and elsewhere.

Track it down

The Alien movies are all on Disney+ in Australia, Singapore and the UK. In the US, it’s available on Hulu, Apple TV, Starz and DirectTV. For all other countries, visit JustWatch and select your location.

Fun fact

The prop used in the film was built from a Kango 426 drill with some random camera equipment and part of a Casio calculator stuck on. Today, dedicated Alien fans and space marine cosplayers can buy a highly detailed replica.

The Private Hudson Award for misuse of technology

“Can’t be, that’s inside the room!” “You’re not reading it right!”

Verdict

Made in the years following the Vietnam War, Cameron’s film is a metaphor for a military-industrial complex which over-relies on technology — and we know how that turned out, on-screen and off. Let’s get this one in the hands of some lifesavers.

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Down the rabbit hole

Obsessive detail on the MS-314 from other Alien-themed media, including video games.

The U.S. Army Could Get The Handheld Motion Tracker From ‘Aliens’

Mythbusters Adam Savage builds his own Aliens motion tracker prop:

Other FlashForward Editions

Richard Trenholm
Richard Trenholm

Richard is a former CNET writer who had a ringside seat at the very first iPhone announcement, but soon found himself steeped in the world of cinema. He's now part of a two-person content agency, Rockstar Copy, and covers technology with a cinematic angle for TechFinitive.com

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