A research group from MIT has invented a heater system that tracks your location and projects warmth directly onto you, rather than heating a whole room.
Named ‘Local Warming’, the heater uses Wi-Fi based motion tracking to determine an individual’s position inside a building then sends the ceiling-mounted dynamic heating elements to focus its rays onto that specific part of the room.
Each heating element is composed of a servo-motor that changes direction, a bulb to generate infrared radiation, a cold mirror, and other optics to create focused beams.
A working prototype of the Local Warmer was unveiled at the Venice Biennale recently.
While it appears to be just a one-off installation for now, the team from MIT have predicted that in the future the technology could be used for an array of practices, including allowing individuals to specify their chosen temperature for their thermal bubble via a smartphone app.
Courtesy Wired UK
