#HTE

Smart Distancing Systems Combine Motion Tracking and Laser Projection

SDS or Smart Distancing Systems, by Dutch artists Jólan van der Wiel & Nick Verstand, is their creative and hi-tech way to provide social distancing guidelines in public spaces.

“By intelligently using visually attractive shapes, social distancing can now be more enjoyable, more beautiful and above all, more functional than before,” the duo writes. “Marking distances and spaces by using tape and stickers will become unnecessary.”

“A combination of motion tracking technology and computer directed lasers show a lively interplay of lines on the floor, depending on people’s presence. This way, people can move safely through public spaces such as: train stations, airports, museums, shopping malls etc. Through its practical application, this art project can give our society a boost on a social as well as an economical level.”

In one model, bubbles are drawn around parties traveling together, and you’re meant to prevent your bubble from deforming another’s. In another model, a straight line appears between you and nearby people, and the line goes squiggly as you get too close.

The software that links the motion-tracking sensors with the lasers “will be widely available soon,” the duo writes.