Tricorder
Starfleet's handheld sensing, recording and computing device.
A tricorder is a handheld sensor issued by Starfleet. It scans the environment, records data and analyses it, and its name comes from those three functions: sensing, recording and computing.
Quick Facts
- Source
- Star Trek
- Source type
- franchise
- First
- Star Trek: The Original Series
- Creator
- Gene Roddenberry
- Genre
- Science fiction
- Affiliation
- Starfleet
Lore & Background
The original prop was designed by Wah Chang and appeared in "The Man Trap" in 1966, the first Star Trek episode to air. The 23rd-century model is a black rectangular box with a rotating top hood and a shoulder strap that looks like a portable tape recorder when closed.
Three main variants appear: the standard tricorder for scouting, examining living things and recording technical data; the medical tricorder used by doctors; and the engineering tricorder.
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