Walt Disney Imagineering has revealed an exciting new piece of technology called the “HoloTile floor” in a video celebrating Disney Research Fellow and Imagineer Lanny Smoot’s induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
In the video, Smoot gives a quick demonstration of the new tech. The floor is made up of small circular pieces that shift and rotate as the user walks upon it, allowing for omnidirectional movement.
Smoot’s induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame marks the second person from The Walt Disney Company to receive the prestigious honor, with the first being Walt Disney himself.
According to Smoot, the HoloTile will automatically adjust in order to keep the user on the floor, and can even accommodate multiple people independently.
The floor can be used to traverse through virtual reality (VR) spaces, allow users (and potentially guests) to move around in the same space collaboratively, and Smoot also suggests its use in theatrical productions for dancers onstage. In one section of the video, Smoot and another user are walking on the HoloTile floor to get BB-8 from the “Star Wars” sequels through what appears to be a maze, with both on-screen visuals and projections on the tile.
Another short clip shows someone who, to us, appears to be using “The Force” to move a box around the section of HoloTile.
Ultimately, Smoot says that while there are “so many applications for this type of technology,” Walt Disney Imagineering doesn’t know yet where it will be used.
It gives me an amazing opportunity to use these inventions that I’ve made in service of people having fun.Lanny Smoot, Disney Research Fellow and Walt Disney Imagineer
See this exciting new technology in action in the video below: