Spending time at work sitting on the same drab chair can get boring after a while, even if you’re lucky to use a comfortable recliner. If you want to win the Office Olympics, you need something with a bit of pep. [StuffAndyMakes] wanted to build a completely ridiculous motorized office chair. A couple of years in the making, and he’s ready to unleash the 20 MPH IKEA Poäng chair with aerospace-inspired control panel!
The OfficeChairiot MkII, as he has christened it aptly, is a motorized IKEA Poäng comfy chair. It uses off-the-shelf scooter parts to roll around : Batteries, motors, chains, sprockets, tires, axles, and bearings. The OfficeChairiot MkII is basically three main parts – the Chassis, the Control Panel and the comfy chair. One of the main parts of the chassis is the motor controller – The Dimension Engineering Sabertooth 2×60 motor controller – which is also used in beefy battlebots. It’s capable of carrying 1,000 lbs. of cargo and can feed the drive system up to 60 amps per motor channel .
The brain on the chassis is an Arduino Mega which can be controlled via a hand held remote. The Mega also receives data from various sensors for motor temperature, power wire temperature, ambient air temperature, wheel RPM’s, Accelerometer’s, seat occupancy and GPS data. The firmware is designed to ensure safety. The hand held remote needs to ping the on-board Arduino twice a second. If it doesn’t hear from the Remote for whatever reason, the unit stops and turns off the lights.
The Control Panel is one crazy collection of switches, buttons, displays, a missile switch, a master key switch – in all over 30 switches and buttons. All of the devices on the panel are controlled via a second Arduino Mega, helped by a custom multiplexer board to help connect the large number of devices.
Here are a few more features the OfficeChairiot MkII boasts of :
- 1.5 Horsepower from two 500W scooter motors
- 20W stereo and MP3 sound effects
- Weapons sounds, 15 different fart sounds, car alarm, horns, etc.
- All LED lighting: Headlights, turn signals, 88 undercarriage RGB LEDs
- Plenty of homemade PCB’s
- Custom built aluminum body panels (with help from Local Motors, the people behind the 3D printed car)
Aside from the handcrafted wood chassis and circuits boards and firmware, it’s all off-the-shelf stuff. [StuffAndyMakes] plans on open-sourcing the schematics, C++ code and CAD drawings – so post some comments below to motivate him to do so soon. We’d sure like to see a few more of these being built, so that Office Chair racing becomes a competitive sport. Check out the video after the break.
Wonder if his real name is Davros? Add a wrap-around with tennis-ball sized bumpouts every few inches. Maybe curve the console slightly. Heh…
Maybe next version. Bumpers would be smart, either way.
Considering the day… I will be first to call BS.
You would be wrong, Jonathan Here. Check the videos.
It’s basically two 500W electric scooters in a single chassis.
It’s real and it’s spectacular.
Jonathan, you’d then be the first to be wrong.
It’s real and it’s spectacular!
Not necessarily…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P45Z54LJ7o
Next project… ;)
better watch out the road bumps :)
The helmet and goggles are cool. But something isn’t right about the jeans and boots. How about a leather kilt and foot rests made of Crocs on titanium supports?
Brilliant!
That looks fast enough for a gokart. Twin 500W motors eh?
It would go faster, but I have to work out some front wheel wiggle at speed. It’s got that shopping cart thang going on when it hits about 16 or 17 MPH. I’m sourcing better bearings and a better design for those front wheels.
I wonder if the bearings should be replaced with bushings to give it a little drag.
Exactly what we’ve been talking about. Vertical needle bearings with a damper. Allows for smooth and easy SLOW rotation, make quick rotations difficult.
could double as a kerbal space program controller
Hmmm… Makes me want to make the switched and buttons tighter and add WAY more different styles of controls.
The test drive for the chassis is pretty entertaining, too. Nice build – other good videos on his channel as well.
https://youtu.be/FMj9fPF7s7s
Thanks, Thinkerer! After the marks it left on the driveway in that test run, my wife would disagree with those of us who get it. :)
So now we know who makes the WestJet SmartSeat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oyQO-H9YxM
This guy is a web developer by profession…
Used to be a web dev 6 years ago. iOS developer was my last development position. Now I do sales, technical strategy and brand evangelism. (Not including motorizing office furniture.)