The Holo Tile Floor

[Dynamo2000]

Very recently in the news was an invention called the Holo Tile Floor created by Disney's National Inventors Hall of Fame member Lanny Smoot. This creation allows the user to "walk" in any direction without moving anywhere! The floor shifts to compensate for the user's leg action so that the user doesn't actually move anywhere - something like a multidirectional running machine. Not only that but it can do this for multiple users on the same Holo Tile floor simultaneously, each moving in their own direction! What really captivated my interest was I had tried to design such a device myself a few years back. I was inspired by the VR action modules e.g. running, climbing etc. Needless to say I could not figure out how such a device could be designed. Now that I read about it I am very intrigued by the technicalities of the design. Now presumably one could go look at the patent for the technical details. I was wondering however if any of you know of a more "user friendly" but still technical description of how this floor works? Please let me know.

 

[3DDave]

See

https://youtu.be/68YMEmaF0rs?t=203

The surface has angled circular surfaces so only the raised portion of the edge makes contact with the shoes. The angle direction controls the direction rotation of the circular surface will move the shoe. So each one has two motors - one to change the angle and the other to rotate the surface.

From the patent:
"The drive system typically includes, for each disk assembly, a disk orienting mechanism along with a disk rotation mechanism to rotate the disk at a desired rotation rate about its central axis."

https://patents.justia.com/patent/10416754

This link to the USPTO PDF should work, otherwise search for 10416754 on

https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/static/pages/ppubsbasic.html

quick lookup.

https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/10416754

 

[CWB1]

Interesting. Reminds me of the smart ball-conveyors a former employer installed at junctions ~10 years ago. When parts hit a junction, they were scanned and the smart balls would drive/steer the parts onto the appropriate conveyor without the usual gates or other mechanical claptrappery. Given a force-feedback loop I imagine they'd do similar.