Furniture giant, IKEA, is looking to court gamers and people living in cramped spaces with a new wave of robotic furniture and niche e-sport accessories.
The Swedish furniture and home accessory giant has always been known for its clean modern aesthetics, but for customers in Hong Kong and Japan that modern style will also be functionally futuristic.
Rognan, as the company has dubbed it, is a robotic storage unit that can move from side-to-side using a remote touch pad and is able to dispense space-consuming furniture on-demand, including a couch, a bed, and a desk.
Aside from adding a bit of sci-fi flare to one’s apartment, the unit, which was developed in partnership with furniture startup Ori Living, is actually designed to solve a problem in many urban apartments — space, or the lack thereof.
‘More and more people are living and moving into cities where approximately an extra 1.5 million people join the urban population every week,’ said IKEA.
‘With Rognan as a robotic furniture solution for small space living, people will be able to turn small spaces into smart spaces that have all the comfort and convenience of a home.’
According to the company, the robot storage hub can save an extra 86 square feet and also serves as a divider or pseudo-wall that can help adapt spaces depending on users’ desires.
As reported by The Verge, the unit was developed as a concept by MIT’s CityHome project in 2014 and was originally offered to Airbnb’s and real estate developers for $10,000.
It’s unclear what the retail price will be once IKEA launches the storage unit in 2020.
If your living space is adequately sized or maybe you’re not in the market for an all-in-one bed, couch, desk, and storage unit, then IKEA may still have new products that appeal to your sensibilities, especially if that includes gaming.
The line of products, called UPPKOPPLA, were created in partnership with the design company UNYQ, and offer a range of 3-D printed products meant to enhance the experience of at-home gamers.
Among those accessories are a wristband meant to provide support, custom key caps, and also a ‘bungee’ which is apparently designed to keep cords neatly cordoned.
While those products are being designed for use by everyone, IKEA says it plans to use feedback from their new line to help design more accessories for people with physical disabilities in the future.
‘This is an exciting chance to create products that can be personalized and unique for people with particular needs. We’re looking forward to customising other kind of products for more groups of people,’ says Michael Nikolic Creative Leader at IKEA.
The company also announced that it is designing a chair specially designed for gamers call the Ubik last year but has yet to announce when it will be made available.
Accessories in the UPPKOPPLA line up will be available in 2020.