I admit it: I had hoped for endless cheap entertainment — confusion, bewildered customers, whining, protests, and long delays. When I first heard a few years ago that the elevators at the Marriot Marquis in Manhattan were switching over to a new system, and that our conference would the first to experience the new elevators, I could only envision complete chaos. Instead, the changeover went pretty smoothly, and now that a couple of years have passed we all take the system for granted.
The new system introduces two types of disaggregation, in the categories of Mechanics and Authority. The buttons that control what floor you go to are moved from inside the elevator to outside the elevator, into the waiting area on each floor. Furthermore, with this change, the authority over the destination of the elevator moves from the passengers to the central computer. Moving the authority to the central computer allows the central computer to optimize how the elevators operate — very effectively, actually, with severely diminished wait times. Of course if you step in the elevator and change your mind about what floor you want to be in, you're out of luck.
Given the proven benefits of this innovation — cost reduction for the provider (fewer elevators needed, happier users) and the user (wait times) — I expect this innovation will revolutionize how elevators work and likely displace the previous system almost entirely.
Topics: · design
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