Holotile Floor by Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney Imagineering unveiled the HoloTile Floor, billed as the world’s first multi-person, omnidirectional treadmill floor that telekinetically moves around any person or object, creating an immersive virtual and augmented reality experience. The hexagonal floor is made up of button-sized surfaces that move like a treadmill by switching between flat or side views. The moving HoloTile Floor was developed by Lanny Smoot, a Disney Research Fellow and longtime member of Walt Disney Imagineering Research and Development. Smoot has also been inducted into the Walt Disney National Inventors Hall of Fame for his many creations for the company over the last 30 years, including the Treadmill Floor.
Disney Parks video still, via YouTube
The world’s first multi-person omnidirectional treadmill floor
Walt Disney Imagineering’s HoloTile Floor is primarily intended for virtual and augmented reality games and experiences. As users move through the space in their games and toys, the treadmill floor moves them, making them feel like they are actually walking, running, or moving through the game. Because the floor never stops moving, users can walk an unlimited distance in any direction without colliding with the moving floor surface or falling through the floor. Beyond VR and AR applications, Disney’s HoloTile Floor can be installed on theater stages to direct dance and movement in creative ways, and even use the treadmill function to automatically move stage props and structures or suddenly appear on stage.
Lanny Smoot developed Disney’s holotile floors
Multiple players can stand on the holotile floor
As seen in the video, Lanny Smoot shows viewers how Disney’s HoloTile Floor works. As he sits in the chair, the treadmill floor magically tilts and Lanny Smoot glides around the invention as if he were on Aladdin’s magic carpet. For an added superpower effect, one of the staff members raises his hand to control Lanny Smoot’s movements, acting as a person with telekinetic abilities. The Disney National Inventor also shows how the HoloTile Floor can be used in VR and AR games by allowing two players to stand side by side and play out an adventure on screen while moving and walking on the same treadmill floor.
Multiple players can be on the treadmill floor at the same time
While the invention promises creative uses across a variety of industries, Disney’s HoloTile Floor may be a project in development with no specific release date or whether it will be commercialized for VR and AR gamers. “Imagine having a few people in one room, working together to be in another place, moving around, watching, sightseeing. Imagine embedding this on a theater stage so a dancer can do amazing moves. Not me, but a really good dancer could. So there are a lot of different uses for this kind of technology, and we don’t know yet where it will be used,” says Lanny Smoot. In the meantime, fans can enjoy Disney’s new project and see the magic of the technology happening on the floor.
The floor moves as the circular surface tilts
People and users can also move around with minimal effort.
This invention can enhance immersive VR and AR gaming experiences.
