Particularly useful in very small spaces, Ori is comprised of oh-so-many moving parts. In a unit roughly the footprint of a twin-size bed, Ori contains a sleeping surface, closet, drawers, workstation, and lots of additional storage. After the prototype was created in 2014, the Ori team set about field testing the unit by installing a few in Boston apartments and then renting them out via Airbnb. About 30 guests were able to test out the Ori unit, play with its controls and features, and report back about what they loved and what they didn’t.
Related: Watch this MIT researcher triple the size of a 200-square-foot apartment using Minority Report-like gestures
The study helped inform the final commercial design for Ori, which will go into mass production this year and most likely hit the market in 2017. (A queen bed model of the transforming unit will also be available.) Some of the functionality has been tweaked for universal appeal. For instance, the original robotic prototype could be controlled with the wave of a hand or a simple voice command, not unlike what we see in science fiction movies. The final product excludes that feature and will instead be controlled from a button panel located on one side of the unit. However, the makers recognize that some users are more advanced than others, so each unit will have smartphone capabilities that allow development of custom apps in the future.
The team called on San Francisco-based designer to create a more aesthetic appeal for the robotic fixture. Béhar said in a statement that the Ori unit will be available in a variety of customized finishes, materials, and colors, and will make “studio city living a practical, comfortable, and beautiful experience.”
Perhaps the best part? Never having to make the bed since, as the designer points out, it will be “automatically made by having it glide away and disappear.”
