The Vorwerk 'Thinking Carpet'

Carpets with inbuilt intelligence can now run office functions such as climate control, alarm systems and guidance technology. A partnership between two German firms, carpet maker Vorwerk Teppichwerke and semiconductor specialist Infineon Technologies has created a 'Thinking Carpet', equipped with sensors able to manage a range of control functions in the office of the future.

After two years of research work, the two companies presented the prototype of an electronically networked, high-tech carpet for the first time at the Orgatec 2004 show in Cologne, Germany in October 2004.

Said Vorwerk chairman Johannes Schulte: "On the one hand, the uniqueness of the 'Thinking Carpet' is going to lie in the invisible, simple and space-saving placement of sensors for the widest variety of functions, functions for which optically visible devices are still being utilised today. In addition, microchips that have been integrated into the flooring, networked with each other and are computer-controlled can register several, even different sensory signals at the same time, and then analyse them correspondingly. If the installation expenditure is kept low, a system like this would be distinctly more effective than conventional combined systems."

Sensor modules are now being developed with a chip size of about seven square millimetres, so that they can be integrated into the carpet's secondary backing. A special backing construction was developed by Vorwerk specifically for this purpose.

For instance, pressure sensors can report an alarm as soon as people enter a security zone. In the process, intelligent software solutions are able to analyse the signals, even individually. Thus an alarm is triggered, for example, only when traces of movement commence on a window or an emergency exit, but not at free-access entrances. Security zones can be individually defined and individually controlled on a time-frame basis as well. As soon as registered signals are additionally relayed to a security control centre, the point of alarm (break-in or fire) can be localised precisely in a matter of seconds. Besides this, pressure sensors in the carpet can also be utilised as door-openers and light switches, or as electronic counters for people, too.

In combination with shatterproof LED modules, the 'Thinking Carpet' also becomes a controllable guidance system. For example, in this case light-emitting diodes in the carpet mark the shortest route to an emergency exit. The combination of different sensory functions (pressure, temperature and motion) can additionally enable the detection of people lying motionless on the floor, triggering a call for emergency help.

The semiconductor technology necessary for the new carpet was developed by the laboratory for application technology at Infineon's research department. The developers at Vorwerk were responsible for creating a backing construction which integrates the entire technology invisibly and safely into the carpet, yet at the same time retains all of the characteristics of a textile flooring in terms of its suitability for the contract business, and regarding the look and feel.

Said Mr Schulte: "With the 'Thinking Carpet', the basis has now been successfully laid for an eagerly expected revolutionising of textile flooring, for high-tech design in the contract business that points towards the future."

Dr. Werner Weber, director of the technology at Infineon, estimated that "about two years of further development are going to be necessary until the 'Thinking Carpet' attains market maturity."

January 2005
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