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in a manageable, dynamic way’. SMC recently created a lift car where all surfaces were edge-to-edge screens, behind structural glass. When visitors walk into the lift, the walls, doors, ceiling and floor display high-resolution immersive video so that passengers find themselves in the Grand Canyon, an undersea world or other exciting locations. In another example, the company created a one-of-a-kind interactive staircase, made of seamless white Corian elements, where each step changes colour and plays musical notes when someone walks up or down it – evidently a huge hit at parties!
Te prospect of intelligent flooring that can sense when it is being walked on may sound a little sinister, but has some interesting applications – and not just for security. ‘At an important, yet seemingly prosaic level, underfloor heating companies are incorporating presence sensing so that heating is turned off when not needed,’
says Moore. Healthcare settings could also benefit hugely from a roll-out of such technology. Care homes already rely on portable bedside mats to alert them when a frail resident gets up in the night, while some hospitals use GaitRite footstep-sensing walkways to analyse how steady patients are on their feet and calculate their fall risk. SensFloor, however, takes it a step further, with intelligent sensors that can be fitted beneath any standard flooring, turning lino or carpet tiles into a smart floor that can detect movement, alert staff to falls and even draw attention to health issues if a person begins to walk more slowly or unsteadily.
In 2023, the smart flooring market was worth around £182m, according to Fortune Business Insights, with an estimated value of £4.6bn by 2030, so we can expect to see the technology becoming mainstream in the next few years.
Left For some it might be the stuff of nightmares, but SMC created a lift car where all surfaces were edge-to- edge screens, behind structural glass. When visitors walk into the lift, the walls, doors, ceiling and floor display high-resolution immersive video
Bottom SensFloor is an invisible smart system that can be laid under regular flooring and identifies walking patterns. It can be used in care settings to monitor health issues that affect walking, and sounds an alarm in the event of a fall. It can also be used in retail environments to track shopping activity
FUTURE-SHAPE GMBH
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