Star Trek Doors Become Reality Thanks To Japan's Research Work
Researchers at Japan’s University of Electro-Communications and Hokuyo Automatic Co. have finally succeeded in making the intelligently sliding automatic doors, same as the ones in Star Trek. This doors have a custom sensor (a 3D time of flight laser scanner) coupled with algorithms that can detect people, and make an educated guess about whether or not they are aiming for the door. The sensor is designed to function in places where the ambient light varies from direct sunlight to total darkness (i.e. between 0 and 200,000 lx), and the software compensates for snow, rain, water on the sensor itself, and also the interference from other nearby sensors.
There are two major improvements made in the doors used presently. First, the door is opened, without any lag, for only those people who intend to go through it. And second is the speed, width and time of opening the door are determined from the observation of the position, speed and number of people intending to use the door. The sensor estimates the time at which you arrive at the door and times its opening in such a way that it finishes opening itself when you reach there. If you are in a hurry, the door increases its opening speed to make sure it gets out of your way in time. It also opens wider if more people intend to go through it. The only disadvantage is that it won’t be able to decide what to do if you pause in front of it. But otherwise, it is almost the same as Star Trek door is.
![[IMG]](proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.olideautodoor.com%2Fimages%2Fcommerical_automatic_sliding_doors.jpg.jpg&hash=2f0fa3c1908cb5c095a090f1561c98be)
The researchers say that this custom sensor will add about $1000 to the cost of the door. However, as the time passes, the cost of the hardware will reduce. So, I think, it won’t take a long time for these doors to be used everywhere.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
There are two major improvements made in the doors used presently. First, the door is opened, without any lag, for only those people who intend to go through it. And second is the speed, width and time of opening the door are determined from the observation of the position, speed and number of people intending to use the door. The sensor estimates the time at which you arrive at the door and times its opening in such a way that it finishes opening itself when you reach there. If you are in a hurry, the door increases its opening speed to make sure it gets out of your way in time. It also opens wider if more people intend to go through it. The only disadvantage is that it won’t be able to decide what to do if you pause in front of it. But otherwise, it is almost the same as Star Trek door is.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
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