Visiting a graveyard can be quite a creepy experience, especially if your visit occurs when daylight is fading. But they are set to get even more creepy thanks to a Slovenian company updating the humble tombstones to become interactive.
The company is called Bioenergija and was created by Saso Radovanovic. With the help of Milan Zorman, a computer professor at the University of Maribor, they have put a modern twist on the ancient tombstone. Rather than simply a name, dates, and some loving words in memory of the person buried below, the Bioenergija tombstones embrace digital content.
Each tombstone will have a display embedded into it, with the example given to Reuters being a 48-inch panel. From a distance they look like normal tombstones, but these new ones are aware. If you stand in front of one it detects your presence using built-in sensors and starts interacting.
What is shown on the display is up to the family of the deceased, or the deceased themselves if they had time to plan this out. It could be scrolling text, video, audio, or a mix of all three. There's even going to be a smartphone app allowing audio to be streamed to your device rather than having speakers in the tombstone.
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As for the cost, the 48-inch display tombstone is roughly $3,200 and Bioenergija is apparently receiving orders following a successful prototype. They are weather and vandal-proof, but what isn't clear is how the interactive tombstones are powered. It would be difficult to dig up a graveyard and lay power cables without disturbing other residence there, so a battery seems most likely. If that's the case, do these tombstones have an ongoing maintenance plan covering regular recharging?
For now, Bioenergija doesn't seem to have a way for you to order a tombstone online. The website for the company looks to be called i-ternal and you can contact them for more information. But will they prove popular? Maybe there's individuals out there who want to leave behind more than a stone with some words chipped into it.