Collection by Ali B. Zagat
The Future is Here: Self-Assembling Furniture Powered by Mini Robots
Arranging and rearranging furniture isn’t uncommon, but what if your chairs and tables could anticipate your needs and reconfigure themselves? Roombots, a project from Ecole Polytechnique Federerale de Lausanne (EPFL) that was funded by the Swiss NCCR in Robotics, explores simple modular robots that create moving, self-assembling furniture.
Roombots are capable of moving on a grid of connectors as well as off-grid free locomotion in a room, and can transfer between on-grid and off-grid movement. The modules can also transport non-Roombot structures.
Roombots contain both an active motorized mechanism and a passive connection plate, and can create pieces that incorporate additional passive elements, like the above tabletop. Using non-robotic components contributes to structural integrity and keeps the total weight of the object low.
Engineers envision Roombots evolving over time to create larger and more complex structures—for example, joining stools together to become a bench or table. Each module is also self-improving, and can learn to increase its speed by analyzing and optimizing oscillation patterns.
One of the applications that most interests the Roombots team is assistive furniture for the elderly or those with a motor handicap. With a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, researchers will design modules to monitor health; aid the user in sitting, standing up, or lying down; manipulate objects; and move closer or farther away, as needed.
Roombots can also store themselves in a carton when not in use, or create a static structure such as a box or wall.