The "Multi" is engineered to use magnetic force instead of clunky weights and cables, which elevator firm ThyssenKrupp - who announced the development yesterday - say will save power to help it run more economically. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...enkrupp-in-groundbreaking-design-9890605.html See also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUa8M0H9J5o It's the turbolift isn't it?
That is actually kinda fun. Apparently ThyssenKrupp has finally found a promising application for the Transrapid's technology, albeit in a completely different context. According to this article that's the source of the tech used in the elevator. As was hinted at in the video the fact that it allows horizontal travel means we can have new building designs and could be particularly useful for buildings taller than 300 metres.. Also several "turbo lifts" can share one vertical lift shaft since they can avoid each other by moving into the horizontal shafts. They've started building an elevator test tower that will enter operation in 2016.
I'm sure it will be able to get you from Munich Central Station to Franz Josef Strauss airport in 5 minutes. Cue edmundstoiber.gif
The fun part is I can quote Stoiber's speech and still even people who understand German won't get what the fuck he was talking about: I bet ThyssenKrupp initially thought of the whole Turbolift concept because Stoiber suggested moving the whole train station instead of just the train.
Yeah, that speech was something else I was living in Munich at the time, and I was actually for the Transrapid connection - oh well
That's the real game-changer. One easily gets a tenfold increase in capacity just by having this bypassing option. In theory, lifts retrofitted in existing buildings could even travel up and down the same single-lane shaft simultaneously, as long as the system knew that one would sidestep in time to avoid a collision; the "parking pockets" would be fairly simple retrofits extending only about one elevator-width into the corridors or office spaces or whatnot. Timo Saloniemi
Do they come with telepathic door sensors that only open if I actually intend to enter the lift even if I am standing 10 cm away from it and waits till I finish my dramatic conversation?
Of course they will. They will also adjust speed depending on how long your dramatic conversation during transit is projected to take so you can always finish talking before exiting.
It would be pretty trivial to write software today to detect whether people actually intend to step aboard the elevator, or are having second thoughts. Sensors that actually observe the state of motion of the user (instead of just moronically detecting whether the user is there within the field of vision or not) are commonplace, and could be told to watch the speed and direction of the user and only open the doors when entry is imminent. It would take a bit more doing to allow the lift to decide that somebody approaching back first doesn't want the automatic doors to open but instead wants to lean on them (say, Spock in "The Naked Time"). But only a bit more, as off-the-shelf software would easily discern which way the user is standing or moving or leaning. That wouldn't have much utility outside a lift, but perhaps inside...? Allowing the lift to recognize conversation might be the natural next step. But why stop there? Carefully reading body language would allow the lift to hurry up and slow down according to the mood of the passengers; turn the muzak up or down; compensate for flatulence with ventilation and scents; or recommend destinations for people uncertain about which level in the department store they really want. Timo Saloniemi
Now I am sorry we never got a time travel episode of Star Trek where they travel to a time where lifts can't do that. And the crew is constantly irritated by the lifts interrupting their conversations by arriving to early and opening the doors. Closest we got was the turbo lift not moving on voice command in Trials and Tribbleations.
To expensive if you ask me for everyday commercial use with all of the electrical consumption needed to power the magnets. What about Elon Musk's version - http://www.wired.com/2013/07/elon-musk-hyperloop/
That's probably easier than we think. When you're in a crowded public transport car, you can easily read people's intent to get out, and let them pass without asking you, without them moving in any direction. And even if a lot of people don't actually bother noticing, I am sure a well-trained artificial intelligence could. You probably don't even need that – it might be enough to check if the person is facing the door. As long as there are no Xindi insectoid using the elevators, it will work.