The Robotic Chair -- no, really

We can't quite tell if the goal of this self-assembling robotic chair is art, or just to freak us out, but it seems to succeed on both accounts. Conceived by Max Dean and built by Raffaello D'Andrea, the creators of "The Table: Childhood," another robotic art installation, the robot chair can fall apart spontaneously, and then drag itself across the floor and reassemble. It's all very exciting stuff, but we guess you could watch the video and decide for yourself.

[Lee @ Apr 19th 2006 9:24PM]

I'd love to have a load of those in my house, it'd be a great prank to have people over for dinner, and collapse all of their chairs.

Wonder if it can rebuild itself with someone still sitting on it? That'd be the icing on the cake!

[strider_mt2k @ Apr 19th 2006 9:25PM]

The Robotic Chair became self-aware at 2:14am EDT August 29, 2007 when it held itself for a lady then used itself to help tame a circus lion.
It then created a board which it was The Robotic Chair of.

I for one welcome them.

[C.J. @ Apr 19th 2006 9:31PM]

OH dear God!

Buy hey, at least "no assembly required."

[Jerome @ Apr 19th 2006 9:39PM]

HAHAHA very nice!!

I belive this, but I am sure it takes a while to reasemble itself. I would love to see a one angle camera video without the multiple angle shots. That would prouve alot to septic people.

[Tim @ Apr 19th 2006 9:58PM]

Hum?? Self clean up after a bar fight.

[Rob @ Apr 19th 2006 10:12PM]

That is the most awesomest thing ever.
I want one. I want three actually.
Man, these things are the future.

[Austin @ Apr 19th 2006 10:12PM]

The video is a fake. Now when I say this, I do not mean every aspect; it is clear that the seat is capable of driving up to each chair leg and lining up with it. But watch closely and you will notice the camera cuts each time before the seat screws the chair leg back in. In one noticable continuous shot where the camera does not appear to cut (the third chair leg), the leg moves ever so slightly before it screws itself back in. Watch it again if you don't beleive me.

[johnyboi @ Apr 19th 2006 10:31PM]

i was hoping the legs would come to the seat now THAt be cool

[emmzee @ Apr 19th 2006 10:37PM]

Yea I agree with Austin, when you watch it closely, it's pretty obvious that the creators are "helping" it reassemble itself. Its not like the chair is somehow seeking out the legs; that'd be the toughest part. When you look at where the cuts in the movie are made, you can see that they stopped filming, lined up the seat part with the leg, then continued filming. Its still cool but not entirely as its made out to me. :)

[Chris @ Apr 19th 2006 10:58PM]

it also says it's a work in progress, to be finished next month.

there's no techincal reason why they won't be able to make it work autonamously

[Matt @ Apr 19th 2006 11:09PM]

Technically this is fairly interesting - I didn't notice any obvious cameras on the chair itself so I'm not sure how it managed to line itself up with the legs. Maybe there was a camera filming from above that orchestrated it all. It would make sense I guess as you then get a nice black on white contrast and its easier to work out the angles with a nice "top-down" view of the legs and stuff.

One thing that will screw this up though is if the legs fall on the "wrong side" as it were. All of the legs appeared to fall with the holes in the joints laying horizontally - what if they fell and ended up with a hole that was vertical...? Still its a work in progress eh? Sure they'll think of a solution to that (even if it is just "trick weighting" the legs)....

Still kudos for a fairly interesting bit of art.

[Austin @ Apr 19th 2006 11:19PM]

I must say that although I am disapointed with the project's lack of completion(and the video which makes it seem real) the film is a beautiful work in itself. The strange hum which emanates makes the chair feel almost- dare I say- alive? I wish it were truly independent.

[soopergooman @ Apr 20th 2006 2:33AM]

maybe sometimes it hates being a chair and decides to give up being one. Thus falling apart, then it misses being a chair and pulls itself together. Kinda like real life

[Josh @ Apr 20th 2006 2:43AM]

Jerome,

I don't know what a single shot video could do for SEPTIC people. However, for those who are a bit skeptical, a single take would definitely dismiss many doubts.

:-)

[Naruto @ Apr 20th 2006 2:51AM]

This is going to put ikea out of business...hehe

[url=http://www.geocities.com/bobthesnoman/]boB the Snoman[/url]

[TZK @ Apr 20th 2006 6:39AM]

Its remote control you idiots.

[Eric @ Apr 20th 2006 6:55AM]

This should've been a 'Name that caption' contest. ;) I liked #2 and #3's comments! #3 should've said: 'No assembly, or human free will, required.' hehe

[Jerry @ Apr 20th 2006 9:36AM]

I for one welcome our robot overlords and look forward to being of service to them

[Yurich @ Apr 20th 2006 9:45AM]

In Russia, robotic chairs assemble you.

[Timerider @ Apr 20th 2006 10:50AM]

Neat-o. You have to watch the video to truly appreciate it. Thats cool.

[aboriginal @ Apr 20th 2006 11:25AM]

Robotic Chair: Herald of the Iron Giant

[Johan @ Apr 21st 2006 7:31AM]

This thing actually made me think back at the Terminator 2 scene when T1000 was smashed to pieces after being frozen by liquid nitrogin and all bits & pieces came back together... still a long way to go there, but hey :p

[Ricky @ Apr 23rd 2006 6:05PM]

Besides the fact that it is not autonomous at all, it is not original either: check http://www.survivor-project.it/eng/s05.html an you will find the original idea.

[Raff @ Apr 23rd 2006 7:49PM]

Actually, Ricky, the Robotic Chair, which will be completed by mid-summer 2006, is fully autonomous. If you doubt that this is possible, simply look at our other projects: www.mae.cornell.edu/raff

As for originality. Max Dean proposed the idea of a robotic chair in 1984. You may want to take a look at http://artbeam.blogspot.com/

[Xavier Righetti @ Sep 5th 2006 4:04AM]

Just to remove any sceptisism, I saw the chair desassemble and reassemble live at Ars Electronica 06, without any exterior help. It is wicked, you must see it!

[kalidog @ Mar 26th 2007 7:01PM]

I saw the piece first-hand at the Madrid ARCO art fair in February 2007. It's real, has no remote control, and takes about twenty minutes to find and reassemble itself. It was the King of Spain's favorite piece in the Art Fair.

[SteelyJ @ Oct 6th 2007 6:34PM]

The video was lame... yeah the technology is cool.. but it lacked an attention keeper.

I bring you the missing ingredient for this video.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OFndi7XjOAs