Furniture Bots, Transform

This mechanized table automatically expands from seating for six to seating for twelve. We tried to capture the action with the three images above but don’t miss the transforming goodness in the video after the break. Alas, we’ll never see something like this in real life because it resides on a yacht worthy of Robin Leach’s attention. We wouldn’t have a problem copying the geometry of the tabletop pieces, but there’s got to be some serious design work to pull off the structure controlling the movement. No solid price is listed, but the creators note that construction costs are in the tens-of-thousands of British Pounds. We’ll stick to our Ikea furniture hacks for now.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ_AwFSWIPU]

[Thanks Luke]

34 thoughts on “Furniture Bots, Transform

  1. Repeat my remark about “seat two, four, or six” from “Did that table just move?” Great companion piece for the moving chair/end table. Maybe you could hack some folding chairs on a rack to unfold and position themselves.

  2. is that table really that expensive? A friend of mine has one like this. His father is a cabinet-maker, he made one to. Will ask him about it when I see him again…

  3. First thing that popped in my mind while watching the video was that the table design could be applied to some advanced wheeled robot that changes its wheel size like this table depending on terrain

  4. The majority of the cost must be the table itself, it looks fairly high-end. Although the mechanics are, no doubt, quite complex, and the motor are probably fairly expensive ones, based on the probable torque needed, controlling them is a matter of timing, and that should be possible with even a fairly small microcontroller, no?

  5. Definitely has the “that’s far out factor”, but doesn’t make in the real world sense. The table apearsto be a permanent fixture in a room, a room that has to be large enough to fit the expanded table and diners. Unlike portable banquet tables that can be store along walls, this table doesn’t clear floor space to truly to make a room multipurpose. In the event a round table is desired, portable tables that fit together to make a round table surely exist. n In the event they don’t no doubt real expensive custom made portable tables could be commissioned to flaunt wealth. I can appreciate the ingenuity that may have gone into designing and constructing the mechanism. After that initial appreciation, I’m left with… So?

  6. it was really bugging me how it could stay round when expanded or not. i see the “ring” is not a cylinder though and has some variable thickness to account for the larger radius of the pie pieces.

    /geometry brain fart

    very cool. do want!

  7. If you combine this with robotic chairs, rich people or creatively scrounging hackers can hit a button for unexpected guests. Awesome design! Unfortunately, I bet it’s expensive. Is there a discount version for college kids that is purely mechanical? No electronics? This would be awesome for college kids in small apartments, but a hand-crafted table would be too expensive for most. Is it patented? Would the originator mind somebody duplicating it for personal use? I wonder if they’re willing to produce an inexpensive version!

  8. Funky.

    http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6994032.html

    Think of it as 2 movements.
    1. The table top centre star piece moving up and down. Multiple ways to do this. If I was doing this I would use… think of a bike wheel buckled like it was kicked in from the side. The bump in the wheel raises the centre.

    http://thumb10.shutterstock.com.edgesuite.net/display_pic_with_logo/60410/60410,1204480479,2/stock-photo-buckled-wheel-in-front-of-a-bicycle-parking-9962893.jpg

    2. The wedge shaped table tops sliding inwards and outwards on a rail. A pin on each wedge goes down into another channel which guides the in and out movement.

    Very clever.

  9. is this dejavu ? i saw this like 5 or 8 years ago but it was a manual one and a woman was operating it on a video. one of the comments i remember was that this table is mostly used on boats like yates, so depending on the guest/crew they had, the table could be adjusted to size and it was bolted to the ground. the one for the house was not bolted to the ground but it looked like the base was quite heavy.

  10. 1. It looks too think when it’s being just s smaller version table. That’d be potentially uncomfortable to sit at.

    2. It’s not flat when expanded, so it’d be a pain in the ass to put trays of food on.

    3. It’d be really cool if to expand it, a motor started up and the whole thing started to spin really fast until centrifugal force seemed to snap the panels outward. I know, it doesn’t do that, but it would be cool. Lasers and robots wouldn’t hurt either, but that’s true of nearly anything.

  11. No not hard to do at all. in fact it can be done with one motor and a simple track system.

    It just looks complicated because of the shapes. In reality they all take a single path so it’s easy to replicate.

    Now make the outer petals spin around while the central star and fillers come int to place.. NOW we got complex as all get out.

  12. @zzzomb

    Track for petals. Could use a large donut in the middle with arms attached to it and the petals. As the donut spins the arms get closer to the tracks which push the petals outwards. Attached to the same drive would be the lifting mechanism for the center and outer petals. Once lifted the donut continues to spin in the same direction until the arms are no longer aligned with the track and thus the petals retract into the center star.

  13. @ D_
    Yes, 1/4 and 1/2 round tables do exist, I used to set up a lot of weddings and we used them all the time, but I think you missed the point. Do you see all the teak? this table is on a boat; were it not firmly affixed to the floor, it would be flying all over the place as the entire ‘room’ could be pitched 40* to either side.

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