Cool IR Auto Adjusting Door

slat door

There is a new door design out now, as you come up to the threshold the sensors in the multiple sliding slats see you and will slide just enough to let you through. This way the loss of cold/hot air inside the room is minimized. The video linked to from Boing Boing shows it in action with the normal minor glitches that happen in product demos. Works with non-human shaped objects like boxes too. This would make a nice pet door.
The sensors used in each door slider look to be the same Sharp IR detectors that many robot builders use. You can also find them in those sometimes annoying motion sensitive sinks and toilets.

Automatic door… Japan style