Transformers in the furniture world! The modular design is like building blocks, allowing you to change the shape freely and move around!

Latest update time：2021-09-04 23:33

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Furniture Robot

Roombots

Today, furniture design has developed into a variety of different and rich interpretations, but in the future, perhaps the "furniture" you know will be subverted.

Imagine this: when you get up in the morning to brush your teeth and wash your face, your bed automatically turns into a dining table and chairs; after breakfast, the dining table and chairs turn into a sofa... It can turn into any furniture whenever you need it.

Isn’t this idea very bizarre?

Although it sounds far-fetched, some people are already doing this. That is the furniture robot in the box below - Roombots ▼

This is a modular robot developed in Switzerland. It can integrate materials with furniture. By splicing, automatically deforming and walking, it can reorganize itself into various smart furniture to create the most suitable furniture for home and office.

The robot is a project funded by the Swiss company NCCR Robotics and developed by a team led by Oke Ijspeert, director of the Bionics Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL).

The goal of this project is to create furniture that can be used repeatedly and in many different ways.

Roombot adopts a modular design and looks like a cube dice. Each one has a battery and three small motors that can move and rotate.

Each module is only 22 cm long. Only 10 modules are needed to be combined with various materials to build a series of furniture.

Each module has an interface, through which they can be connected to each other.

After connection, each module can rotate and move with its own motor.

It can also crawl on special walls, bringing more possibilities to indoor furniture. For example, you can install lights on Roombots and change their positions and combine them into various patterns at any time.

Then through the PC-side algorithm, Roombots can move on the ground▼

No matter how many there are, the function of moving can be realized. Although it looks a bit ugly, after all, this technology is just getting started▼

The team even plans to improve the human-computer interaction capabilities by embedding cameras to track user behavior, allowing users to command Roombots through voice recognition or actions ▼

Through the PC, these modules can be turned into a chair▼

After being assembled into furniture, it can also be moved ▼

And, by adding some accessories to the module, such as table tops, cushions, etc., you can form a larger piece of furniture▼

You can also attach Roombots to boxes so that they can be moved at any time▼

In fact, the purpose of Roombots research is to help the elderly and other people with limited mobility. For example, if an elderly person needs walking assistance, the modular furniture can make way for the elderly in a messy home, or be combined into a piece of furniture to follow him to prevent him from falling to the ground.

Of course, the combined furniture can also be used to create various functions through various creative ideas▼

Now, the team has designed a lot of modular combinations, such as chairs▼

Small low table▼

Desk▼

Movable low table▼

Or a small side table, etc.▼

The team hopes to provide Roombots to designers so that they can create more special things based on them.

In their vision, when all furniture is made of Roombots, the entire lifestyle will be changed. They also use tablets to display virtual rooms, allowing people to place furniture in them as they wish.

In addition to taking care of the elderly, furniture made of Roombots will also provide more fun and safety for children▼

Through more research, improving the interaction between Roombots and humans, and strengthening the possibilities of hardware, Roombots may really change the direction of existing life and furniture design in the future▼