Lowe's Made A Star Trek-Style 'Holoroom' To Test Home Improvement Projects But It's Not *Quite* The Same

Two Lowe's Home Improvement stores in Toronto will soon host an installation that is straight out of science-fiction - sort of.

Ad Age reports that the hardware store employs a team of science-fiction writers to help it envision the future of retail.

As such, the company has created something it calls a "Holoroom" to allow customers to envision what their home improvement plans will look like in real life. The Holoroom appears to imitate the Holodeck, a fictitious room from the show "Star Trek: The Next Generation" that creates fictitious but real-looking environments suitable for experiments.

Here's the Holoroom that Lowe's has built:

It looks promising! Here, for comparison, is the Star Trek Holodeck:

Once the Holodeck is programmed, it creates the illusion of an entire environment seen in 3D:

However, the Lowe's Holoroom's similarities end there. Lowe's 20-by-20-foot rooms will be equipped with iPads that have apps allowing customers to create virtual models of rooms in their homes, which can then be furnished with virtual Lowe's products.

Customers can see how the planned room will look through the iPad screen as they move the screen around the room like a viewfinder. Here's how it looks:

So ... maybe not so much a "Holoroom" as a "Holotablet." At best. Hmm.

Here's a video Lowe's made explaining how its room works. Skip to the 2:30 mark for a demonstration:

Ad Age reports that the project came out of Lowe's Innovation Labs, a department of the company that works with startups to develop new technologies.

The Holorooms will be installed at the two Toronto stores later this year.