antistatic mat

antistatic mat

[¦an·tē¦stad·ik ′mat] (computer science) A floor mat placed in front of a device such as a tape drive that is sensitive to discharges of static electricity to safeguard against loss of data from such discharges during human handling of the device.

antistatic mat

A flat surface that a keyboard or other electronic device can rest on or a person can stand on in order to discharge static electricity. The mat is either grounded or treated in such a manner that it absorbs static electricity. See antistatic device.