4 ms·

Why would it need to be robotic? If the friction on those tracks is low enough, then it should be possible to move the whole setup by hand.

seren 7y ago
Even with low friction, you probably need to apply brakes at rest to avoid having it to move uncontrollably at the wrong time. But certainly it could be manual. By using a motorized motion, you have more freedom in the design, and you can likely move heavier load. Not everyone is necessarily fit enough to push, squat, or reach some part. But this is a good point and I hope you can use the system without power, because it would suck to sleep on the ground because you have a power outage.
- ulrikrasmussen 7y ago
  Braking could certainly be done without motors by requiring a handle to be squeezed while moving. With heavier loads I might see the point in using motors, but I think a few pulleys could do the trick as well. My point is mostly that the robotic part seems to be slapped on to make the whole thing seem more futuristic, when in reality it is just a clever design for a folding bed.
  - seren 7y ago
    Even if I don't want to be too cynical, it is probably easier to raise funding for robotic furniture than furniture on wheels...
saulrh 7y ago
Getting the friction down far enough that they could get the thing rolling would also mean low enough friction to store a ton of momentum and roll it over someone's foot. This thing probably masses ten times as much as any manually-actuated compact furniture I've seen. On top of that, consider accessibility. I'd be mostly fine hauling this around, but I know some people that weigh literally half what I do and others with joint or coordination issues. They would have trouble. Finally, this system is probably going to last way longer. Humans are really awful at using things carefully, while a mechanical engineer with some servos can control exactly where the force is. The "grease the rails and push" plan is great for getting it started, but then you've dumped a bunch of energy into the system and it'll have to be dissipated by running the thing into a physical stop, which is a recipe for vibration and stress that'd shake it to pieces in months. A controlled system can move the unit smoothly and carefully slow it down at the end of travel. I bet this is cleanly in Vimes Theory of Boots territory.
iguy 7y ago
Right. Lots of big libraries have these, to save space, and while I guess they need a strong floor, moving a ton of books by hand seems to be no problem.

seren 7y ago

Even with low friction, you probably need to apply brakes at rest to avoid having it to move uncontrollably at the wrong time. But certainly it could be manual. By using a motorized motion, you have more freedom in the design, and you can likely move heavier load. Not everyone is necessarily fit enough to push, squat, or reach some part. But this is a good point and I hope you can use the system without power, because it would suck to sleep on the ground because you have a power outage.

ulrikrasmussen 7y ago
Braking could certainly be done without motors by requiring a handle to be squeezed while moving. With heavier loads I might see the point in using motors, but I think a few pulleys could do the trick as well. My point is mostly that the robotic part seems to be slapped on to make the whole thing seem more futuristic, when in reality it is just a clever design for a folding bed.
- seren 7y ago
  Even if I don't want to be too cynical, it is probably easier to raise funding for robotic furniture than furniture on wheels...

saulrh 7y ago

Getting the friction down far enough that they could get the thing rolling would also mean low enough friction to store a ton of momentum and roll it over someone's foot. This thing probably masses ten times as much as any manually-actuated compact furniture I've seen. On top of that, consider accessibility. I'd be mostly fine hauling this around, but I know some people that weigh literally half what I do and others with joint or coordination issues. They would have trouble. Finally, this system is probably going to last way longer. Humans are really awful at using things carefully, while a mechanical engineer with some servos can control exactly where the force is. The "grease the rails and push" plan is great for getting it started, but then you've dumped a bunch of energy into the system and it'll have to be dissipated by running the thing into a physical stop, which is a recipe for vibration and stress that'd shake it to pieces in months. A controlled system can move the unit smoothly and carefully slow it down at the end of travel. I bet this is cleanly in Vimes Theory of Boots territory.

iguy 7y ago

Right. Lots of big libraries have these, to save space, and while I guess they need a strong floor, moving a ton of books by hand seems to be no problem.