back to article 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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  1. Anonymous John

    Invisible title

    I've got an invisible carpet in one room at present. Visitors find it hard to believe it isn't bare floorboards.

  2. It wasnt me
    Thumb Down

    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?

  3. The Original Ash
    Thumb Down

    Why a lump in the floor?

    Why not a box? You know, a shed-like structure.

    Why simulate something which WON'T work?

    Ugh...

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    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.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Oh, hush.

    Stop complaining. I for one look forward to my Invisibility Shed.

  6. Piers
    Thumb Up

    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!

  7. Deckchair

    is required

    @The Original Ash

    Are invisble sheds more practical?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @It wasnt me

    Note to science: random twat on internet thinks all research should stop unless it has an immediate and obvious commercial application.

  9. Jerome 0

    @ Anonymous John

    Surely your visitors can feel it's not bare floorboards when they stand on your invisible carpet?

  10. It'sa Mea... Mario
    Happy

    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....

  11. Anonymous Bastard
    Thumb Up

    Invisible if may not be...

    ...but it's still a cool rug. I want one.

  12. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Stop

    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.

  13. Eden
    Thumb Up

    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.

  14. Craig 12

    @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.

  15. Chris Malme

    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.

  16. James 55
    Thumb Up

    Use in Afghanistan?

    Or any desert? No army can spare all that time chasing mirages.

  17. D@v3

    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...

  18. Newt_Othis
    Boffin

    Dare I say...

    ... that a functioning SEP field would be cheaper, easier and probably more effective?

    (Where's that 9V battery gone?...)

  19. Christoph

    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.

  20. Jerome 0
    Boffin

    Re: Try simulating it with a "real world" example

    He can't, his super-advanced simulation software only works with right-angles.

  21. Anonymous John

    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.

  22. David S

    @Newt_Othis

    They couldn't get any pink paint.

  23. wtf is an handle?
    Pint

    perfect cloak

    my carpet is a perfect cloak.

    For dust at least.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    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?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    @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?

  26. Sean Hunter
    Boffin

    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.

  27. LaeMi Qian
    Alert

    Riminds me of...

    The Predators' cloaking armour.

  28. Secretgeek
    Joke

    Has anyone else....

    ....spotted the 12 ninjas in the room yet?

    Just me then.

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