A researcher from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab has created a line of robotic furniture designed to maximize space for those in tight living quarters.
While the concept of such tiny living quarters may be foreign to some, it’s quite common for homes and apartments in many parts of the world to be very small. In New York City, for example, where real estate is cost-prohibitive, many can only afford small studio apartments consisting of just a few hundred square feet.
People across the country are also embracing the tiny house movement – downsizing from large homes in order to break free of mortgages they can’t afford or to simply have more money for travel and other experiences.
Whatever the case, living comfortably in such situations all comes down to being able to maximize the space you do have which is where Ori comes in.
Derived from the Japanese word “origami,” Ori was created by MIT’s Hasier Larrea in collaboration with renowned designer Yves Béhar. The modular furniture affords the ability to transform micro living spaces into multi-use areas such as living rooms, dining rooms, offices, bedrooms and more – all at the touch of a wall-mounted button (or via mobile app).
As demonstrated in the clip above, Ori furniture can take many shapes including retractable beds and desks as well as movable walls.
In a press release, Larrea said Ori’s systems provide the totally new experience of having interior spaces intelligently conform to activities rather than activities being forced to conform to our spaces.
No word yet on what sort of price points you’d be looking at for a complete system although I can’t imagine it’d be cheap.
https://www.techspot.com/news/65658-ori-robotic-furniture-tight-living-quarters.html
