MIT's Ori Robotic Modular Furniture Is Designed To Make Small Places Feel More Roomy

An anonymous reader writes: MIT's Media Lab has produced Ori, a range of robotic, modular furniture designed to make small places feel more roomy. The Architect's Newspaper reports: "With its name coming from the Japanese word 'origami,' the furniture system combines robotics, architecture, and design to let interiors double-up as bedrooms, living rooms, dining rooms, and offices. Teaming up with Swiss product designer Yves Behar, founder and CEO of Ori and research scientist at MIT Hasier Larrea has his eyes set on fundamentally altering the 'experience and economics of the urban built environment.' Speaking in a press release, Larrea added that 'Ori's systems make possible the effortless and magical transformation of interior spaces, providing the totally new experience of having our interior space intelligently conform to our activities, rather than our activities being forced to conform to our interior space.' A movable mainframe, containing a variety of concealable furniture and storage, is the core concept in Ori's modular and mechatronic furniture. Using the wall mounted control panel, the module can move across the floor and deploy different pieces of furniture. This can all be done remotely through the Ori app as well." Ori is not on the market yet, but inquiries can be made via Ori's website.

Old idea

[Anonymous Coward]

This has been done in Japan for years. But MIT did say robot instead of machine or mechanism so TECH NEWS!

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[luis_a_espinal]

This has been done in Japan for years. But MIT did say robot instead of machine or mechanism so TECH NEWS!

I was about to say the same thing. I should tell my in-laws in Yokohama to add a robot and claim to have a furniture mecha or something.

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[saccade.com]

I'm sure the controls are all on-line. New prank: Hacking into somebody's Ori and closing the bed-drawer while they're sleeping in it.

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[Yvan256]

auto-wash [giphy.com]

Laz-E-Tron

[Tablizer]

So, my couch can fetch me a beer without me ever leaving it?

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[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I guess my wife is now obsolete.

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[dcw3]

That's what my dog is for, and I don't have to be on the couch.

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[Tablizer]

My dog drinks it before it reaches me.

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[dcw3]

I'd have to shoot that dog.

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[Tablizer]

Then you'll have to kill the rats yourself.

Ori...as in folding?

[aitikin]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the word Origami comes from Ori, meaning folding, and kami, meaning paper? So...they mean to say it folds?

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[Gen-GNU]

It's meant to make your apartment feel bigger on the inside than it is on the outside... so it folds space and time. Sort of. Well not really folds, simply occupies a time and relative dimension in space, but that acronym was taken.

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[Yvan256]

Damnit Gen-GNU, I'm an architect, not a doctor!

Yep. Too bad it doesn't actually fold, though.

[infernow]

I do find it interesting that despite the name they chose for their product, no part of it seems to fold. Lots of sliding/drawers, but no folding.

Quick, sombody call...

[bobbied]

IKEA.. It's a whole now concept in flat pack furniture. Frustration free, Now it assembles itself.

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[Hardness]

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/cata... [ikea.com]

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[Solandri]

You know those pop-up books you had as a kid, where the act of turning the page would make a small diorama pop up? That's how flat-pack furniture should work.

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[AmiMoJo]

I was thinking more like those robots you had as a kid, that transformed into a car. Imagine Ultra Fluaaajutt, who transforms into an IKEA sofa, or Megabloggat who goes from freestanding sideboard to shoe rack on demand.

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[Coren22]

Yeah, but the noise they made when changing would get very annoying after a while.

A mainframe?

[110010001000]

A mainframe? Mechanical furniture? Moving parts? An app? What could possibly go wrong?

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[dcw3]

Yeah, because we didn't have light or fire before Pokeman GO.

While this is a novel concept, it's hardly innovative. And it raises a whole host of potential pitfalls...hacking, pets/kids getting caught, etc.

The Book of Ori

[pr0t0]

Hallowed are the Ori [wikipedia.org].

Murphy's Law

[turkeydance]

with a Murphy bed

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[AmiMoJo]

Isn't that what James Bond used to escape in You Only Live Twice?

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[dcw3]

Haven't seen one of those since I slept on one as a kid in the 60s.

mr robot

[slew]

"Using the wall mounted control panel, the module can move across the floor and deploy different pieces of furniture. This can all be done remotely through the Ori app as well."

Given a demonstration about what might go wrong with current home automation in eps2.0_unm4sk-pt?.tc, I shudder to think what could happen if furniture was controllable through an "app"...

Fear the Walking Dead

[Hardness]

I'm okay with the risks of home automation considering what happened to that actor's character in S01E06...

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[dcw3]

So, you're saying it'll work for everyone reading this?

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[layabout]

They also assume that you're in perfect health and in a very narrow range of size. Can you imagine working at that desk if you are 6 feet tall and use a nice ergonomic chair? Can you imagine having some form of mobility problems trying to get in and out of that bed? I look at this is furniture that is designed for 20-year-olds, not someone who's lived a life.

Complete Marketing Bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

I reviewed site and the videos. It's a thick bookshelf/cabinets that electronically move forwards and backwards so the 'bedroom' or 'living room' has more space when you're in that room. The bookshelf is extra thick because the bottom has a pull-out bed. The other side has a TV shelf above the internal bed protrusion and a different model has that as a couch instead. There is nothing modular about it. It has no modules, everything is connected, it's all one item with no options for different configurat

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[Hognoxious]

You and the GP are both right, and yet it wouldn't surprise me if hipsters totally lapped this up.

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[dcw3]

Can't wait for the first time someone's dog dies because they got trapped inside/crushed when someone remotely configured their system.

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[Megane]

Sounds more like The Fifth Element to me. I couldn't find the scene where he has to switch the apartment around a lot, but I found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Korben Dallas

[roman_mir]

It's great [wordpress.com] until your bed suffocates you [wordpress.com] or your fridge freezes you almost to death. [blogspot.com]

As a side note, it never ceases to amaze me how stupid ads look (maybe I don't watch enough of them to stop noticing such things). The girl wakes up in her bed with full make up, her hair is done, fake eyelashes, etc. Everything is sterile and perfectly clean and wrinkle free. Who lives like that?

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[damn_registrars]

I don't see anyone telling you that you will be forced to live in a small place.

In fact, if you have $325k you can go buy the home of your lord and savior [activerain.com] , although if that seems a little too small for you there may be larger homes for sale in the same area. Maybe with all the money you've made by not paying employees you could buy your Lord's place, turn it into a museum of his greatness, and then buy another place for yourself at the same time?

Okay, I'll do it

[ThatsNotPudding]

"Hallowed be the Ori."

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[dcw3]

Maybe if you logged in with an account to prove you're not the manufacturer.

Boooooring!

[DriveDog]

I would've expected something a little more aesthetically pleasing. This is the dullest-looking stuff I've seen in a long time. Yuck. Part of the worlds' problems stem from the lack of such in peoples' lives. This looks like a dystopian futurists' dream.

Living alone

[holophrastic]

Great. The bed isn't there when I'm not sleeping in it. Novel. What about the other person sleeping in it? Shared resources are just great, when you're sharing them with yourself. Take the same 200 squeet, and get triple-usage of bed and office and living room, sounds wonderful. Now what about the triple storage of my linens, my equipment, and my glassware?

It's like someone thinks the planet is full. Let me introduce you to my little friends: saskatchewan, vermont, manitoba, montana. You aren't being