Nearly three years after Disney revealed their “HoloTile floor,” their patent for the technology has been published.

HoloTile Floor Patent

The patent is titled “Modular Omnidirectional Actuated Floors Providing a Reconfigurable Video Production Environment.” Here’s the abstract:

A video production system may include a video production environment and a modular floor including a plurality of tiles configured to move independently to induce or respond to a motion for a user or users in contact with the modular floor. The video production environment may include a camera, a stage, and a screen. The screen may provide a digital background. The system may include a processor configured to modify a configuration of the video production environment (e.g., the digital environment or the physical environment) based on a detected characteristic of the user(s) on the modular floor (e.g., an orientation, position, or movement of the user(s)). The system may include a sensor configured to detect the characteristic of the user(s) on the modular floor. Additional systems and associated methods are also disclosed.

In short, it’s a floor of moving tiles.

Walt Disney Imagineering shared a video of the floor in January 2024 to celebrate Disney Research Fellow and Imagineer Lanny Smoot’s induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Smoot is listed as an inventor on the patent alongside Frank D. Mezzatesta, III, Jack Wetherell, and Robert J. Bristow.

As we saw in that video (below), the floor is designed to automatically adjust based on the movements of the person walking on top. The patent highlights the tech’s possible use in video production, but it could also be used for VR, theme park experiences, and more.

When it comes to video production, the floor would allow performers to walk for any “distance” in any direction and speed without moving off camera, out of filming range, or off stage. The floor’s processor could also be linked to a background screen, adjusting the image based on the performer’s movements. It could even adjust the position of the camera, props, and other equipment.

In a virtual reality experience, users could physically walk around without leaving a safe area and feel like they’re really moving through the virtual space.

Watch Disney’s video about the HoloTile floor:

Just because the patent is published does not mean we’ll see it in use immediately. It could be years before it is used in a production or experience.

How would you like to see the HoloTile floor used? Let us know on social media.

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The post Disney’s ‘HoloTile Floor’ Patent Published, Revealing Potential Theme Park, Video Production, and Virtual Reality Uses appeared first on WDW News Today.