Float Photon - The SpacePad

The pandemic has highlighted the transmissibility of respiratory particles onto surfaces from one person and then from hand to face by another. e.g. Covid-19, Monkeypox, flu. Current WHO and NHS Covid guidance recommends avoiding contact with surfaces in public places. This is especially pertinent in health care settings such as hospitals and GP surgeries where vulnerable and sick people frequent. The current rapid adoption of touchscreen displays in the NHS for patient and visitor interaction is driven by cost saving efficiencies. However, this adoption has brought a new challenge of infection control as these touchscreens are high frequency touch items by diverse members of the public. Current mitigation techniques are unsatisfactory. The most common is the clean after every user philosophy that leads to reduced efficiency and a massive increase in biohazard waste that creates an environmental problem that is not carbon neutral. The repetitive cleaning also damages the equipment. Other methods like sterilisation by UV light is not fully effective as certain bacteria survive exposure. There is a clear need for a non-burdensome, cost effective, zero transmission human interface that is non-waste creating and carbon neutral. The Float Photon Interface (FPI) is such a solution. This disruptive technology floats the human interface in space so there is no user contact and no surface pathogen transmission. FPI is a new disruptive 3D interactive technology that takes advantage of recent advances in manufacturing equipment to bring down the cost of real-time 3D images without glasses to consumer level for the first time. The algorithm and software development already done leapfrogs expensive holographic and light field solutions and is demonstrable as proof of concept bringing what was science fiction into science fact.