Roombots.. modular, reconfigurable furniture

[Garrett]

I'm replacing all my furniture with this..

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0XDpT8hI89k?feature=oembed

Hurry up & finsh already

 

[F_Slim]

"I said make a table and not shelf disable you *%&$ furniture-robot!"

 

[Binky]

Sorry to spoil the fun, but this is a really bad idea:

• Significant numbers of these things will take up large amounts of space, which could be better used for storage
• They require cleaning, and maintenance (batteries? Dusting?) far beyond conventional furniture
• Such modules are expensive. Similar devices such as cubelets, are far more expensive than an equivalent volume of wood, mdf or chipboard.
• Furniture spends most of its time in an arrangement that works well in a room, for the room's purpose. Moving furniture frequently enough that powered/intelligent movement would be an advantage would seriously reduce human productivity because you couldn't become accustomed to the movements required to navigate the room.

 

[FaeMinx]

I also think this is a poorly thought out idea.

However, make the modules much much smaller, and have a single piece of furniture - I.e. a workbench, adapt itself to different needs and now the idea becomes a great one.

=~. O =

 

[levi]

Yeah, if you can shrink these down to the microscopic scale, make them much cheaper through mass-production, and solve the battery problem thought adapting charging strategies, this might be a useful alternative to static furniture. Until then, it's just a research project, but it's still the first step to something useful.

 

[rygD]

Sorry to spoil the fun, but this is a really bad idea:

I generally agree with you, however I want to think through this, even if some of it will be silly.

Significant numbers of these things will take up large amounts of space, which could be better used for storage

You won't need many as these would replace normal furniture.  These can actually save space.  I am not a fan of lots of furniture that takes up space, and can see how a block of these could be used for most furniture in a small room that can serve multiple purposes. Say you are eating lunch and have a chair and table.  A friend comes over and you want to watch a movie or play a video game, so it reconfigures into a bench so you can both sit, possibly with a small table.  You decide to take a nap, so it becomes a bed platform.  If I spent some time thinking about it I could probably come up with more.  FaeMinx had a good idea. 

They require cleaning, and maintenance (batteries? Dusting?) far beyond conventional furniture

So you make other robots to handle that.  Think of the stuff Zorg said in The Fifth Element.  Yes, I am being silly.

Such modules are expensive. Similar devices such as cubelets, are far more expensive than an equivalent volume of wood, mdf or chipboard.

Very true, but if things like this become more common the prices should drop.  Another important thing to consider is what was said near the end of the video about people with mobility limitation and disabilities.  These would be great for them, not just to bring them water and medicine, but also the stuff I mentioned earlier, since most things can be done in the same area.  Also only having a bunch of these in a small apartment may be cheaper than having a house full of furniture.

Furniture spends most of its time in an arrangement that works well in a room, for the room's purpose. Moving furniture frequently enough that powered/intelligent movement would be an advantage would seriously reduce human productivity because you couldn't become accustomed to the movements required to navigate the room.

Just because we are used to furniture that stays in the same shape doesn't mean it is the only, or even best way.  As far as productivity, if it were made in such a way that you don't have to spend any time configuring them to become the furniture you will use you can be more efficient and productive.  As F_Slim imagined, you can speak what you want it to become, and it can be programmed before shipping to become what you will need.  It can also go back to a default configuration when you are no longer around to help those who have difficulty observing a room while moving around.  For me, I have to look around so I don't trip on a dog or cat.

Ultimately, advancements have to start somewhere.  If you don't try new things you can't see what works and what doesn't.  You keep developing what works and eventually you can have an environment that can be fully adapted to the smallest detail to the current task of the current occupant.

 

[Binky]

These robots seem very much to be jacks of all trades.

The shape of the bots is really not suitable for furniture. Too blobby. Probably not strong enough.

We already have adapting furniture. Beds that fold up into sofas, tables hidden in hatches, library steps that turn into a chair. Most of the interior of cramped boat cabins. Attempting to create furniture out of many identical, general-purpose modules will never be compact or cost-effective.

If this guy's aim is to create modular furniture (rather than just play with some cool robots), I think he'd be better off with several different modules, such as a padded module, and long/thin module, a wide/flat module, a corner module, etc, etc

 

[Granitehead]

They already seem to be using different modules, the roughly spherical ones move and keep stuff together, and then you use a passive module as a table top, or what you need. In the background there were several examples of such modules.

Charging: I guess I would make the clamps which they use to interconnect from metal and have a system so they can charge each other and from some charging station.

Cleaning: I guess they could just move into an automatic cleaning station now and again.

 

[Binky]

So my furniture disassembles itself and wanders off for an appointment with the vacuum cleaner every few weeks?

 

[elwing]

Sorry to spoil the fun, but this is a really bad idea

 

I disagree, that is not a product they are trying to sell, which, we all agree would be really poor. it's only some research project about reconfigurable hardware, and as such it's a pretty decent testing platform...

 

[Binky]

Seems to me that this is a neat robotics project, but attempting to make it useful for furniture is inappropriate.

 

[rygD]

Attempting to create furniture out of many identical, general-purpose modules will never be compact or cost-effective.

Isn't this how all furniture is made?  And all matter?

 

[Granitehead]

Imagine a nice wooden table top, flat pieces of a comfortable chair, flat pieces of a big couch, a bed in pieces, a few lcd screens and lots of other stuff, with suitable mounts for those robots and all stored in some small room, cabinet or just behind other furniture. Whatever you need is assembled and brought to you by the robots on demand. They wouldn't make up most of the volume/mass of the items they form, they would just hold it together, move it and (dis)assemble it. The robots would clean and charge themselves (and/or each other) and possibly the furniture/other items.

Could certainly work, though I'm not sure whether it could ever reach a wide consumer market. No reason to just dismiss the possibility, though.

 

[Binky]

Attempting to create furniture out of many identical, general-purpose modules will never be compact or cost-effective.

Isn't this how all furniture is made?  And all matter?

How many pieces of furniture do you have that are made entirely out of a single element?

I can only think of aluminium ladders and iron filing cabinets. Even then the filing cabinets are steel, and have some plastic parts. The aluminium ladder is coated in aluminium oxide.

Pedantry aside, the sort of the T4b describes sounds rather more feasible. However, it would might be faster if the pieces could be assembled by hand, with some suitably convenient joining mechanism. (clips+screwthreads+magnets?)

 

[rygD]

Attempting to create furniture out of many identical, general-purpose modules will never be compact or cost-effective.

Isn't this how all furniture is made?  And all matter?

How many pieces of furniture do you have that are made entirely out of a single element?

I can only think of aluminium ladders and iron filing cabinets. Even then the filing cabinets are steel, and have some plastic parts. The aluminium ladder is coated in aluminium oxide.

Pedantry aside, the sort of the T4b describes sounds rather more feasible. However, it would might be faster if the pieces could be assembled by hand, with some suitably convenient joining mechanism. (clips+screwthreads+magnets?)

I meant that all matter (and elements) are made of the same basic parts.  Rather than being pedantic, which is kinda funny to hear, I see this being related to other things I have wanted for years, and your comment pointed out more similiarities.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_matter

I am not trying to debate this.  I wanted to say that while it may not be great as it is I see value to this sort of research.  It seems T4b is doing the same, and pointing out that they are using other modules with it and how those, or traditional furniture and such, can make up the bulk of what the robot modules do or make.