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Smart Elevators Coming to Seattle

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the sim-tower-needed-this dept.

coaxial writes "Fujitec has unveiled a new elevator system for Seattle's Metropolitan Park West Tower. The new system uses touchpanels to group users by destination. Riders may wait slightly longer for the proper car, but the overall ride is shortened because the car stops less."

8 of 364 comments (clear)

  1. Sweet Zarquon by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 5, Funny

    You know, down is nice...

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

    1. Re:Sweet Zarquon by gold23 · · Score: 5, Funny

      My sole reason for clicking on this article was to see how far down the page I would need to go to get to the HHGG Sirius Cybernetics Corp. reference.

      Thank you for not making me scroll at all.

      --
      Trust not a man who's rich in flax / His morals may be sadly lax
  2. Oh God... by john83 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next, they'll give it a personality. A cheerful personality.

    At this rate, Douglas Adams will overtake Clarke as the SF writer who predicts the future.

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  3. Waiting by decipher_saint · · Score: 5, Insightful
    "Riders may wait slightly longer for the proper car"
    To me, once you're riding time appears to go by quickly, it's the waiting for the damn thing in the first place that's frustrating.

    Human nature I suppose.
    --
    crazy dynamite monkey
  4. Hey, that's my idea! More things to consider... by dada21 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Way back in the day I used to do some IT work for a company that made elevator buttons for the big elevator companies. It was one of the oddest companies you had ever seen.

    I used to ask them why the basic "up/down" button was never replaced with a better control system -- you could request the floor you wanted to go to on the outside of the elevator instead of the inside. Sure it would cost more (needing buttons at every floor) but you could prioritize the elevator's path, saving money and time in the long run.

    They told me it would never happen -- elevators would always be as they were. I guess he was mostly right, since it is now 10 years later and we still have up/down buttons, long waits, and no real efficiency in destination planning. I actually used to consider about once a year writing a paper on sorting the elevator destinations real time based on where people were and where they would be heading.

    I'm surprised it finally happened.

    A few things I wish elevators had (some jokingly just out of frustration):

    1. On/off toggle. The idiot that hits the call button ten times would only toggle the button on and off 5 times. Let him wait, I hate the clicking sound.

    2. On/off toggle in the elevator. Have you had the kid hit 10 buttons? I have. Many times. Have you had some idiot hit a few buttons by accident? I get it every week. Not that I'm in a rush, but come on, think before you hit a button.

    3. Early elevator arrival notification. Tell me which elevator will be the one I'll be entering. I've been in some buildings where I'll miss 3 elevators because they don't notify you which one to wait by. Maybe they do this to prevent people from crowding the doors, but I'd rather people learn etiquette than have the crazy rushes you see in some Chicago lobbies.

    4. VIP floor access. Pay $1 and get to your floor immediately.

    5. BING muting. Have you been in these elevators that have to BING at every floor, even when you're going to the 33rd from the 1st? Yeesh, give me a mute button.

    6. Free spray deodarant in each elevator. Talk about needing to teach people etiquette.

  5. Re:Real World may hold surprises by yobjob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You actually bring up a good point - what's to stop a single user from registering 10 full lifts worth of demand for his own stop by repeatedly entering the destination floor at the kiosk? Maybe if sensors are installed in the doorway, it can estimate how many people leave the elevator at a floor, and compare that to the demand originally registered at the kiosk. The predictive logic software could then learn which floor has the highest number of selfish arseholes, and adjust their service accordingly :)

    --
    Czech language for absolute beginners
  6. Re:Hey, that's my idea! More things to consider... by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative
    • On/off toggle in the elevator. It's a standard Otis option, but it's not ordered much.
    • Early elevator arrival notification. Tell me which elevator will be the one I'll be entering. It's common to have lobby level "This car up" signs, controlled by the dispatching system. But above the lobby level, it's rare.
    • VIP floor access That's more common than you might think. It's called a "priority hall call station" in the elevator industry, and is usually an RFID or swipe card reader.
  7. Re:This is NOT New technology... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm staying in the Marquee as I write this, and I can say this is the stupidest system for elevators I've ever seen.

    When it gets very busy, which is in theory when this system should be most effective, it breaks down completely. Here's what happens: All the people who are confused and tired of waiting for their elevator rush to any elevator that opens, not realizing it may not be going to their floor. Then the people who actually know how the system works can't get on their elevator, and have to rekey their floor and then be told to wait for a different elevator. And then the whole process repeats.

    It is somewhat hilarious to watch people get on the elevator, reach for the non-existent floor buttons inside the car, then look around confused as the doors close and they are whisked off to some random floor nowhere near their destination.