Solution for tight space

While cities and populations may be booming around the world, living spaces are not. In fact, it’s the opposite. Dwellings are shrinking to accommodate more residents which is why a Swedish furniture franchise has joined forces with robotics American startup company Ori to create a new product that will sort out the spacing situation.

IKEA and Ori will be putting their ROGNAN robotic furniture, which acts as a room divider, to the test in densely populated areas in Japan and Hong Kong in 2020.

Seana Strawn, product developer for new innovations at IKEA of Sweden, said: “We have been working with developing small space living solutions for a long time, and we know that some of the biggest challenges in peoples’ homes are storage and finding the place to do all the activities that you’d want to do in your home.

“This is especially the case in big cities where people have to make compromises in the functions of their homes. We wanted to change that.”

With ROGNAN, people will be able to turn small spaces into smart spaces that have all the comfort and convenience of a home. It is built on a robotic platform with system thinking in mind, working with the IKEA storage solution PLATSA as a standard geometry.

This means that people can easily change the function and look of ROGNAN or move PLATSA to another place if that’s needed. It will make people more conscious and less wasteful of their surroundings and how to capitalize on space better as well as smarter. ROGNAN also works with TRÅDFRI cabinet and wardrobe smart lighting.

Seana added: “With ROGNAN, small space living customers will no longer have to compromise their needs, dreams or comfort in order to achieve a multi-functional living environment. The customer will get eight extra square meters of living space, using robotics to transform the solution from bedroom to walk-in closet, to work space, to living room.

“This all-in-one solution is activated through a simple interface touchpad. Instead of making the furniture smaller, we transform the furniture to the function that you need at that time. When you sleep, you do not need your sofa. When you use your wardrobe, you do not need your bed etc.”