German boffins produce sim of 'invisibility carpet' in action
Remorseless German boffins have developed a simulator which can show how so-called "invisibility carpets" fashioned of metamaterials (in fact more likely to appear in the form of invisible sheds, according to top boffins) would actually appear to the human eye. According to the simulation, the invisible sheds would produce …
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Invisible title
I've got an invisible carpet in one room at present. Visitors find it hard to believe it isn't bare floorboards.
What a load of ......
So the point was to make a bumb in the floor invisible?
Sorry, but that was rubbish. Just put a bleeding rug over it. That would have been far more effective.
Who pays for this meaningless drivel under the guise of research?
Why a lump in the floor?
Why not a box? You know, a shed-like structure.
Why simulate something which WON'T work?
Ugh...
klingon ?
looks alot like the distortions ona klingon cloak.
Star Trek got it right again.
Mine the coat with the phasor and tricorder int he pocket.
Oh, hush.
Stop complaining. I for one look forward to my Invisibility Shed.
Top Notch reporting...
"It would seem that in addition to not really being possible, the invisibility cloak/shed/carpet is also fairly crap."
Fantastic - if only the rest of the reporting world could tell it like it is!
is required
@The Original Ash
Are invisble sheds more practical?
@It wasnt me
Note to science: random twat on internet thinks all research should stop unless it has an immediate and obvious commercial application.
@ Anonymous John
Surely your visitors can feel it's not bare floorboards when they stand on your invisible carpet?
unless..
"It would seem that in addition to not really being possible, the invisibility cloak/shed/carpet is also fairly crap."
Unless you hide your shed in amoungst a fairground style hall of mirrors, where it looks like it would fil right in....
Invisible if may not be...
...but it's still a cool rug. I want one.
Look at it this way...
At least he'll have something mildly interesting to tell his co workers when he ends up in the telesales centre.
Solid Snake approves
Solid snake will approve of this.
While all other tech nijas are trying to work out their stealth cloaks and ceiling hiding shinanegans he's already mastered the art of hiding in an invisable box and will be well ahead when this tech comes out.
@Top Notch reporting
I like that reporting style!
"The jury found him not guilty, but the verdict was crap and we all know he did it"
From what I've seen, these Germans do not deserve the term boffin. Their carpet is indeed crap.
Try simulating it with a "real world" example
So, in a simulated museum, with clearly delineated edges, and bright colours, the technique fails. Big surprise.
Now try the same exercise with a shed in the middle of the countryside, with a gradation of different surfaces and colours.
After all, if you put a camouflaged tank in the museum, you would probably spot it pretty quickly.
Use in Afghanistan?
Or any desert? No army can spare all that time chasing mirages.
seems quite good to me...
especially the invisible shed.
While not completely invisible (ie, you can still see the distortions) you cant see /what/ the object itself is.
Thinking from a military point of view (which is where this will no doubt go first) what at first glance is some sort of heat haze visual distortion, is acualy a SAM site or a shed mounted machine gun etc...
Dare I say...
... that a functioning SEP field would be cheaper, easier and probably more effective?
(Where's that 9V battery gone?...)
Well someone had to say it
Actually they did manage to make a completely undetectable invisible carpet. It worked perfectly.
But they can't find where they put it.
Re: Try simulating it with a "real world" example
He can't, his super-advanced simulation software only works with right-angles.
Re Oh, hush.
Rich, you can stop complaining too. Get down to B & Q and buy a greenhouse.
@ Jerome. The door's locked. It's only visible from outside if you peer through the invisible curtains.
perfect cloak
my carpet is a perfect cloak.
For dust at least.
Errr...
The carpet looks like a mirror.
How is a mirror invisible?
Surely a carpet that looked like a window would be a better idea?
@Deckchair - Are invisble sheds more practical?
Oh heck yeah. Haven't you ever needed a safe haven when the other half is on the warpath?
It's worth pointing out
That if you put something under a real carpet or (for that matter) in a real shed, you can't see the thing. The point (if there is one) at which this device is useful is when not only is the thing you're hiding invisible, but the cloak/carpet/shed it's in is invisible also. And that means that it has to look like something else that really is there, because a big shiny old quasi-metallic ripply surface is what people in the concealment business would call A DEAD FUCKING GIVEAWAY.
That's not to say this research is a bad idea. Research of all kinds has always got applications noone could have thought of a-priori. Just don't think it's likely to end up with a star-trek stylee personal cloaking thingummybobber that's all.
Has anyone else....
....spotted the 12 ninjas in the room yet?
Just me then.
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