This carpet is made of tiny flexible flaps. Normally they stick straight up. They're made in such a way that when you step on them, they all bend down the same way, moving you in that direction slightly a la Artificial Donwhill Active Cobblestones.
Most useful in stores, where almost everyone goes the same way, or in businesses, where they don't want you to leave.-- galukalock, Jul 13 2003 Walking "upstream" would be tiring. I think I'd avoid any store using this.-- phoenix, Jul 13 2003 <Lets go of trolley to look at items on shelves>.."I think I'll go for the Chardonney"...<turns round to put bottle in trolley>....<Sees trolley flying down aisle towards nicely stacked tower of cans>....<Winces>...-- silverstormer, Jul 13 2003 Good idea but it can have some bad uses.-- sartep, Jul 13 2003 True...-- galukalock, Jul 13 2003 Yup. The 'bakery, too.-- galukalock, Jul 13 2003 "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave" ?-- Cedar Park, Jul 14 2003 The all-weather carpet around our pool does this.-- RayfordSteele, Jul 14 2003 Well, it would certainly confuse the heck out of the cat. Croissant.-- DrCurry, Jul 18 2003 You could call it "cilia."-- bristolz, Jul 18 2003 Yes, it's a cilia-dea. (+).-- egbert, Jul 19 2003 When it comes to puns, the cilia the better.This idea could involve some hairy engineering issues.-- half, Jul 19 2003 Let's get some pundits to try and furret them out.-- galukalock, Jul 21 2003 random, halfbakery