Ikea’s latest futuristic home designs: Firm unveils robotic furniture made for tiny spaces and 3D-printed products to make gaming more accessible
- IKEA will sell robot furniture and gaming accessories by 2020, the firm says
- ROGNAN, a robot storage unit is a chair, desk, and bed all in one for small homes
- The unit can be manipulated using a touch pad and is meant to save space
- IKEA will also roll out gaming accessorizes like a wristband, key caps, and more
- Eventually the company hopes to make accessories physically disabled people
Furniture giant, IKEA, is looking to court gamers and people living in cramped spaces with a new wave of robotic furniture and niche e-sport accessories.
The Swedish furniture and home accessory giant has always been known for its clean modern aesthetics, but for customers in Hong Kong and Japan that modern style will also be functionally futuristic.
Rognan, as the company has dubbed it, is a robotic storage unit that can move from side-to-side using a remote touch pad and is able to dispense space-consuming furniture on-demand, including a couch, a bed, and a desk.
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IKEA’s new robot storage unit is designed to help people maximize space in urban apartments — many of which are not known for their ample room
Aside from adding a bit of sci-fi flare to one’s apartment, the unit, which was developed in partnership with furniture startup Ori Living, is actually designed to solve a problem in many urban apartments — space, or the lack thereof.
‘More and more people are living and moving into cities where approximately an extra 1.5 million people join the urban population every week,’ said IKEA.
‘With Rognan as a robotic furniture solution for small space living, people will be able to turn small spaces into smart spaces that have all the comfort and convenience of a home.’
According to the company, the robot storage hub can save an extra 86 square feet and also serves as a divider or pseudo-wall that can help adapt spaces depending on users’ desires.
As reported by The Verge, the unit was developed as a concept by MIT’s CityHome project in 2014 and was originally offered to Airbnb’s and real estate developers for $10,000.
It’s unclear what the retail price will be once IKEA launches the storage unit in 2020.
If your living space is adequately sized or maybe you’re not in the market for an all-in-one bed, couch, desk, and storage unit, then IKEA may still have new products that appeal to your sensibilities, especially if that includes gaming.
The line of products, called UPPKOPPLA, were created in partnership with the design company UNYQ, and offer a range of 3-D printed products meant to enhance the experience of at-home gamers.
The ‘bungee’ is designed to hold cords, making gamers less apt to get tangled or obstructed while they’re playing while a wristband helps them move around a desk and elevates their hand for comfort ability
3-D printed products like a wristband will help gamer enjoy their experiences at home, says IKEA
Among those accessories are a wristband meant to provide support, custom key caps, and also a ‘bungee’ which is apparently designed to keep cords neatly cordoned.
While those products are being designed for use by everyone, IKEA says it plans to use feedback from their new line to help design more accessories for people with physical disabilities in the future.
‘This is an exciting chance to create products that can be personalized and unique for people with particular needs. We’re looking forward to customising other kind of products for more groups of people,’ says Michael Nikolic Creative Leader at IKEA.
The company also announced that it is designing a chair specially designed for gamers call the Ubik last year but has yet to announce when it will be made available.
Accessories in the UPPKOPPLA line up will be available in 2020.
WHICH SMART HOUSEHOLD GADGETS ARE VULNERABLE TO CYBER ATTACKS?
From devices that order our groceries to smart toys that speak to our children, high-tech home gadgets are no longer the stuff of science fiction.
But even as they transform our lives, they put families at risk from criminal hackers taking advantage of security flaws to gain virtual access to homes.
A June 2017 Which? study tested whether popular smart gadgets and appliances, including wireless cameras, a smart padlock and a children’s Bluetooth toy, could stand up to a possible hack.
The survey of 15 devices found that eight were vulnerable to hacking via the internet, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections.
Scary: Which? said ethical hackers broke into the CloudPets toy and made it play its own voice messages. They said any stranger could use the method to speak to children from outside
The test found that the Fredi Megapix home CCTV camera system operated over the internet using a default administrator account without a password, and Which? found thousands of similar cameras available for anyone to watch the live feed over the internet.
The watchdog said that a hacker could even pan and tilt the cameras to monitor activity in the house.
SureCloud hacked the CloudPets stuffed toy, which allows family and friends to send messages to a child via Bluetooth and made it play its own voice messages.
Which? said it contacted the manufacturers of eight affected products to alert them to flaws as part of the investigation, with the majority updating their software and security.
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