Researchers created small robotic modules that have the ability to change shape and function as reconfigurable furniture.
"Eventually, all you'll need to do is program the layout of a bedroom or a conference room, then let the modules do the work," Auke Ijspeert, head of the BIOROB, said in an école polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) news release reported.
The "roombots" can be stacked on top of each other to create different structures. Each one liked like a large dice that contains a battery and three motors. Each bot uses a wireless connection to communicate with the other pieces.
The modules also comes with a set of retractable "claws" that allow them to attached themselves to larger pieces of furniture.
"In order to keep costs down and ensure solidity, we have prioritized the construction of hybrid furniture, in other words, objects made up of both robotic modules and solid 'passive" elements,'" Ijspeert said.
In order to attach the Roombots to other pieces of furniture the team created a special surface than corresponds with the robots' claws.
The surfaces could allow the robots to climb walls, or attach to the "passive" furniture elements.
"It could be very useful for disabled individuals to be able to ask objects to come closer to them, or to move out of the way," Ijspeert said.
The researchers have currently developed four Roombot modules that have autonomy of one hour.
"We designed the Roombots elements in such a way that they blend into the background of a room and make the users' lives easier, while maintaining a certain aesthetic quality," Ijspeert said. "We're open to any possibility."
The team hopes the robots will bring a whole new element to interior design.
"One idea is to use a tablet on which you could define the layout of a virtual room. The Roombots would then take care of the rest," Stéphane Bonardi, a PhD student involved in the project, said in the news release.
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