DS9 defiant doors know only to open when people want to go through

[DocCrusher]

Something I noticed in the DS9 episode I just watched.. the doors only open when the person intends to go through. I never really noticed this before.. how do they do this? Is it some kind of psychic circuitry

video example here:

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[marsh8472]

Can't see, he might have tapped a button to open it on the way out

 

[Tosk]

It's not DS9 specific. All Trek doors have an "intent" sensor somehow.

 

[Orac]

This happens on every Star Trek show. It's because the doors aren't really automatic but controlled by a stage hand pulling a string on cue to open them.

 

[Tosk]

Oh shit! Whaaaat?!

 

[kkt]

sorry to burst your bubble...

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

They operate by plot sensors.

 

[DocCrusher]

Can't see, he might have tapped a button to open it on the way out

ah, so it only opens automatically on the way in? Makes sense, I guess it would prevent it opening while you're naked getting dressed inside.

 

[Timo]

I don't understand this "magical intent sensors" thing.

What's so magical about an intent sensor? Today's automatic doors are maximally stupid: they don't observe anything but the Y/N of a person standing in a specific spot. But it should be trivially easy today to design a sensor that actually tracks the movements of a person, and to write the kind of minimal algorithm that decides whether the movements amount to an intent to walk through the doorway.

Starships do track the movements of their occupants. Starship computers do eavesdrop on sensors. Having the doors be clever enough to open when needed shouldn't be something the engineers would leave undone.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[GNDN18]

In the first 2 TOS pilots, some--but not all--doors had "welcome mats."
https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdofthegalaxy/14799682335

 

[Timo]

Those tiny things being sensors for 1950s style mall door openers would result in many a bruised nose, though. Unless it was against the regs to walk at normal pace, or to not stop in front of the doors for a Columbo moment.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Qonundrum]

ah, so it only opens automatically on the way in? Makes sense, I guess it would prevent it opening while you're naked getting dressed inside.

But it's the 24th century, not that they care about such things in that day and age, thanks you Dr Crusher!

 

[Leviathan]

That's the GPP feature.

Doors manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation are programmed to love their simple lives; they love nothing more than to open and close for passing users, and thank them profusely for so emphatically validating their existence.

Quoting from the brochure: "All the doors in this spaceship have a cheerful and sunny disposition. It is their pleasure to open for you, and their satisfaction to close again with the knowledge of a job well done."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The ship's computer always knows where every crewmember is, and presumably it knows what they're doing (i.e. are they moving, and if so which direction, etc.). Perhaps the doors can tell when somebody's just standing there doing nothing, vs. when they're actively approaching it?

 

[GNDN18]

The ship's computer always knows where every crewmember is, and presumably it knows what they're doing

A Duotronic St. Nick? Santa’s engrams impressed on the transtators? Angels and ministers of grace!

 

[kkt]

If the ship knows where everyone is and what they're doing, why was it such a surprise what Lt. Barclay was up to?

 

[tomswift2002]

I think it was in The Naked Time when Spock entered the briefing room by himself and had his emotional break-down and he tried to do mathematical equations to get his emotions under control, that he stops just inside the doors and leans back on them, and even pounds a fist onto them.

 

[kkt]

Great scene in The Naked Time, yes. (You'd think if the ship is smart enough to keep doors shut when someone is pounding on them in an emotional breakdown while opening them when they want to leave, the ship should be smart enough to realize it's about to crash into the planet and all its humanoids are incapacitated and it should warp away from the planet to a safe distance ASAP...)

 

[Timo]

Then again, if the ship were allowed to be a coward, she wouldn't be much of a warship...

In some matters the ship outranks the crew, being able to impose safety measures and give answers to questions not asked. On the big decisions, she has to bow to the commanding officer. And most of the heroes can override the mediumweight decisions of the ship, too, as they are important department heads all, with clearances and codes and whatnot - hence the all too common "safeties off" as a cause of injury in Crusher's reports, and no doubt McCoy's too.

On the issue of who gets to decide whether doors (the cabin ones) open or not, the interesting question is whether this matters. Khan can force a locked door open with his fingertips. Quinn can throw people through closed doors. The doors are not airtight, with light shining through the crack underneath. And people leave doors ajar for eavesdroppers anyway...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Nakita Akita]

Something I noticed in the DS9 episode I just watched.. the doors only open when the person intends to go through. I never really noticed this before.. how do they do this? Is it some kind of psychic circuitry

video example here:

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Oddly enough I actually remember this scene and thinking about why the door didn't open. It's odd for me because I generally avoid thinking and I forget practically everything.
Anyway, I think they could have had the door open and the scene would have looked better.
Mind reading doors? That's very very creepy.