Ikea to roll out robotic furniture for tight living spaces

Dive Brief:

Ikea on Tuesday announced it will roll out robotic furniture through a partnership with U.S.-based startup Ori.
The product, Rognan, will be able to transform from a bedroom, to a walk-in closet, to a work space, to a living room, according to a company press release.
Ikea said that the two companies had been working together for the past two years. The product will first launch in Hong Kong and Japan in 2020.

Dive Insight:

Ikea has already made efforts to accommodate the small spaces many urban millennials live in. However, its latest product launch taps technology to create arguably the most efficient spaces yet. Think trundle bed, but way more advanced.

"We have been working with developing small space living solutions for a long time, and we know that some of the biggest challenges in peoples' homes are storage and finding the place to do all the activities that you'd want to do in your home," Seana Strawn, product developer for new innovations at Ikea Sweden, said in a statement. "This is especially the case in big cities where people have to make compromises in the functions of their homes."

The Rognan, which is controlled through an interface touchpad, allows consumers to create a multi-functional space. "Instead of making the furniture smaller, we transform the furniture to the function that you need at that time. When you sleep, you do not need your sofa. When you use your wardrobe, you do not need your bed etc," Strawn added.

Ori, which was founded in 2015, has already been selling its robotic furniture in the United States. The company launched its first product two years ago, about the same time Ikea tapped it for a collaboration. Ori now has three products in its collection: Ori Pocket Closet, Ori Studio Suite and Ori Cloud Bed, the last of which is "dropping soon," according to the website.

The announcement falls in line with Ikea's latest efforts to target urban millennials living in small spaces. Back in April, the retailer opened its first U.S. urban planning studio on New York's Upper East Side, which is designed for consumers to learn about small-space solutions by working with an Ikea consultant.