She entered her home after a long day. The single-room apartment
looked completely bare, with no furniture of any kind, nor closets, tables or
any possessions. However, she walked slowly to her favorite spot and simply
said "chair, please". The floor rose to meet her descending body in a
caressing embrace; several hexagonal columns, ending in small inflatable
cushions rose from the floor in a three-dimensional arrangement she so admired.
They created a chair under her and she finally relaxed. "A glass of wine,
please" she said and an opening appeared in one of the walls, two feet
above the floor. A small robot holding a glass of wine began to come out, and
was met by an ascending column of hexagonals, which formed a straight path from
the opening to the newly formed chair. The robot gracefully rolled on the path
and upon reaching the chair's location, was raised to the chair's height by the
last few hexagonals. She took the glass, murmuring an absent minded "thank
you" and sipped her wine. Several minutes of relaxation were interrupted
by a knock on the door. She placed her wine on the raised hexagonal and went to
the door, whereupon her chair slowly receded to the floor. She opened the door
and saw her friend smiling "am I too early?" "No, you're just on
time". They both entered and the host said "two chairs and a table,
please". An arranged of two chairs rose from the floor, adjacent to one of
the walls, whereupon a slab came out of the wall between them, forming a
comfortable corner. "Do you want to drink something before we begin?"
she asked. "Just water, please". Another opening appeared in the wall
and a path from it to the table formed just as a small robot rolled on it with
a clear glass of water. The visitor, not yet accustomed to The Morphing Room
was a little surprised and dropped the glass of water, which shattered on the
floor. "I am so sorry", she said, "I'll help clean it up".
"No need" her host smiled. All the hexagonals in the vicinity of the
shattered glass descended to the floor, creating a flat surface. From an
opening on the floor level came out a small robot and cleaned the floor,
returning to another opening with the glass remnants. Another opening appeared
and another robot came and wiped the water from the floor. After three minutes,
the floor was clean and the hexagonals resumed their three dimensional
arrangement prior to the incident. Another glass of water appeared and the
visitor took it and drank. "Let's start" her host suggested. The
table lit up and they worked on the work-table for some hours, sometimes
interrupting their work with an order of a beverage or a snack. After they
finished the visitor rose and said "I think we got it now, what do you
think?" "I agree. Let's meet tomorrow again to finalize things."
They embraced and the visitor left, accompanied by the reshaping of the room to
its bare shape once more. During their goodbyes, several small robots appeared
from the floor-level openings and cleared all the now-flat floors in a graceful
easy dance. When she finally closed the door behind her friend, she was very
tired. "Bed, please" she said and the usual arrangement of hexagonals
of her soft bed rose from the floor the exact height she liked. From one of the
openings a folded blanket came via another robot and was laid on the bed. She
took it while the path leading the robot back to its niche descended to the
floor. The lights dimmed and she quickly fell asleep.
---
The Morphing Room is
based on the concept of a changing floor that can meet the three dimensional
needs of its occupants. The floor is made of height-adjustable components that
can shift and create a three dimensional shape at will and recede back to the
floor when it is no longer needed. Another important consequence of this
arrangement is that simple robotic helpers can be incorporated into the room.
Their locomotion can be completely limited to two dimensions with no obstacles,
a task easily achieved today. Their third dimension movement is performed by
the coordinating floor and obstacles are usually removed either by the
descending floor or by other robots. This enables very simple robotics to
operate, clean and help the occupant of the room in whatever they need.
Furthermore, the walls become completely accessible in all heights since the
floor makes it accessible.
Technology. The basic
ingredients of The Morphing Room is an array of hexagonals that must
fulfill the following requirements:
1.
Rise
and descend quickly to any desirable height: this can be done either by
electric or hydraulic pistons below the floor level.
2.
Strong
enough to support the weight of a person: this can be done with today's
reinforced plastic materials.
3.
Modifiable
endpoint to allow for either hard or soft endings: this can be done by
inflatable cushions, whose air can pass in the middle of the hexagonal.
The walls are also an important part of The Morphing Room. They
are composed of many compartments, each responsible for a different function,
e.g. refrigerator, cupboard, closet, garbage, etc. They can be laid out in any
arrangement, since height is of no importance, but to facilitate its function.
An assembly of helper robots are also an important, yet not
mandatory, part of The Morphing Room. The room facilitates the use of
simpler robots, since the environment changes to accommodate simpler navigation
and reachability for the robots. They should be divided to two basic types,
namely, graspers for bringing things and cleaners that clean the floor (and
only the floor, since all else can become a floor). While more complex robots
can facilitate more complex dynamics, e.g. quadcopters can have a truly
three-dimensional maneuverability, they are not necessary in The Morphing
Room.
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