6 GADGETS FROM DORAEMON'S POCKET THAT MIGHT EXIST SOON

origin: Lowyat.net

Nostalgia kicks in ? Our good old time with doraemon... now coming to ur doorstep, in the bathroom ~

I got my first taste of "advanced gadgetary" back when I was a still young brat. Every week I would force my dad to buy me the latest copy of Doraemon (in Malay), and I would spend the next hour or two digesting the comic from cover-to-cover over and over again.

It goes without saying that I absolutely fell in love with Doraemon's magic pocket, as well as all the awesome goodies he could pull out of it, and apparently so has Lisa Katayama of Boing Boing Gadgets. 

In a post called "6 Gadgets of the future from Doraemon", Lisa lists out six of the best Doraemon gadgets from 1970-1980 that either exist now or probably will exist soon. I personally always favored the magic door that could open up to anywhere (even though it opened up to Sizuka's bathroom nine times out of ten), and since there is documented work on teleportation, I'm hoping that it'll make the next list.

Since we're on the topic, hit us back with a comment and tell us what your favorite Doraemon gadget is!

(Source: Boing Boing Gadgets) 

The Japanese are much more diverse than we usually get credit for, but if there's one thing that 99.9% of us do have in common, it is our love for Doraemon. The robotic cat from the future made its debut manga appearance in a magazine for fourth graders in January 1970. In the first installment, he appears out of the desk drawer belonging to a boy named Nobita and tells him that he will be strangled in 30 minutes and roasted in a fire in 40 minutes. Of course, it all comes true. Nobita then finds out that Doraemon has come to the present (i.e. the 70s), along with Nobita's future grandson, to help make his life — destined to be full of misery, mishaps, and disaster — just a little bit easier to handle. Doraemon's kind, endearing, and forward-thinking qualities led him to become Japan's first official Anime Ambassador to the world last March.

Manga artist duo Fujiko Fujio — creator of Doraemon and many other manga classics from Japan — also invented many of the greatest gadget prototypes known to man, some of which actually exist today. Here are a few from the first decade of the series (1970-1980):

1. TAKECOPTER (JANUARY 1970)

The most frequently used gadget in the Doraemon series is a suctioned bamboo propeller that attaches to any part of the body and instantly scoops you up into the air. Navigable by shifting body weight or maybe just by thinking about where to go.

2. VOODOO CAMERA (OCTOBER 1970)

Take a photo of someone, and this point-and-shoot will make a miniature voodoo doll of that person. This was a great episode — not knowing its powers, Nobita takes photos of Doraemon taking a nap and of his parents, and then gives them to Shizuka-chan, who gives them to the little girl next door who is best friends with a girl who likes to torture dolls...

3. EFFECT-AMPLIFYING MIC (JUNE 1975)

Nobita gets praised by the teacher at school, but when he tries to tell his parents and friends about it, nobody seems to care. That's why Doraemon hands him the mic that makes everything spoken into it sound like the most moving speech ever made by humankind. This scene shows Nobita blushing from embarrassment when he accidentally farts into the mic after he forgot he left it in his back pocket.

4. GUIDED MISSILE (MAY 1976)

To stop the cat that ate Shizuka-chan's pet canary from terrorizing the 'hood once and for all, Doraemon brings out the Guided Missile, a more annoying-than-deadly weapon that will follow the designated target around until its batteries run out.

5. DREAM READER (AUGUST 1977)

When Nobita has trouble falling asleep one night, Doraemon loans him the Dream TV, which lets him watch what other people are dreaming about. Neuroscientists are actually working towards making dream reading a reality — some think it could happen within 5-10 years.

6. 3D PRINTER (APRIL 1980)

Called the Mecha Maker, this contraption makes life-sized models of whatever you draw in an instant. It has four basic parts — a slit to put a paper diagram in, a tube for the materials (in Nobita's case, old plastic figurine kits), a compressor, and an exit hole that the completed item spits out of.