smart floor NORTH GEELONG, VIC, Australia – Lining up for a coffee… food or getting into an elevator, or in line to grab a beer – just got 100% safer thanks to a smart floor which can systematically enforce safe social distancing. It’s called On-Q-Mat and uses state of the art technology to communicate with you to keep you safe, and enforce social distancing around the clock with no fuss.
The system is based on a simple “traffic light” warning system. Everyone understands that with red means stop (you’re getting too close), and green means go (you’re safe).
Consumers want certainty. Without them business owners are sunk. Social distance is critical to controlling Covid-19. On-Q-Mat gives consumers precise, immediate feedback about how far apart they are, says Chris Gilbey, the CEO and Chairman of the company behind the Australian invention. The On-Q-Mat flooring utilises the breakthrough properties of super-material, GRAPHENE, which, coated on surfaces, enables them to communicate with devices including mobile phones. Floors using On-Q-Mat immediately capture data and warn them and others around if they break social distancing protocols.
On-Q-Mat smart floor was developed in Geelong by an Australian tech company specialising in advanced material technology using Graphene called Imagine Intelligent Materials. They worked with another local Geelong company, GH Commercial, to develop the surface materials for the smart mat to deliver a totally Geelong manufactured product. The special graphene sensing materials in the On-Q-Mat, developed and manufactured by Imagine, monitors pressure enabling management of people in queues, crowds or anywhere where people gather in numbers.
Geelong has been chosen to test the first prototype this Wednesday during lunch rush-hour at the busy Cartel Coffee Roasters in Little Malop Street, from 1.30pm.
Chris Gilbey says, “We wants to see how consumers react to the mat and the traffic light system: it’s a very simple looking solution that has been years in development. We want to understand whether this simple system can make businesses, cafes and buildings in general, places that people will once again want to go to and feel safe in. We are starting active consumer research to the extent that is possible in a lock down environment, so that we can use the feedback to make changes quickly and then move into fast track major production.”
In a state, nation and world ravaged by an invisible enemy which requires social distancing, On-Q-Mat smart floor is an Australian advanced weapon to add to a very important growing arsenal of tools that will lead to us staying safe. At the same time the technology offers a guarantee to businesses that customers will be warned every time they breach safe distancing rules, allowing businesses to feel safer opening and allowing for their businesses to stay afloat.
As Chris Gilbey rightly points out, “We believe On-Q-Mat will be a life saver for Aussie small businesses right now. This looks like a first small step. But we have already installed flooring systems in Europe using the same technology to enable better management of offices. The important focus for us right now is to help Australian businesses whether they are retail, medial facilities, offices, aged care and beyond, become safe…” “We need viable solutions which can help us right now. On-Q-Mat should give business owners and everyday people, including customers, confidence that there is a path to peace of mind.
About Imagine Intelligent Materials:
Imagine IM is an Australian graphene sensing company, founded in 2014 by Chris Gilbey and Phil Aitchison. Imagine has developed a licensing and certification model that assures participants in the supply chain of the functionality and quality of the materials used. Imagine is the lead industrial partner in Graphene Certification Labs, based at Swinburne University and was also the first Australian company to build a commercial scale graphene manufacturing capability. Imagine was the first company in the world to connect sensing devices that communicate with graphene coated surfaces to deliver sensing surfaces using graphene.
