Lift-Bit Is the World’s First Digitally-Transformable Sofa
For the first time, a remote will control a section of your living room furniture that doesn’t include your lights or home entertainment center. From the international design and innovation studio Carlo Ratti Associati, Lift-Bit is the world’s first digitally-transformable sofa. The wired furniture was created with the support of Swiss-owned furniture company Vitra and is made up of a series of modular seats fully stacked with the Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies. Each separate seat has the ability to raise or lower independently, thus introducing a multitude of seating configurations and functionality that can be controlled with the click of a button.
The seats are controlled with the Lift-Bit tablet app and can transition from high to low in a matter of seconds. The configuration and height of the stools are determined by the needs of both the user and the space, and potential uses for the integrated couch system vary from sofa bed to an in-home auditorium.
The system’s automated controls also pay homage to Cedric Price’s “Generator Project” and fit within the definition of IoT technologies as a “network of physical objects—devices, vehicles, buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity that enables these objects to collect and exchange data.”
But the Lift-Bit doesn’t like when things are too stagnant, so when the configuration hasn’t been changed in awhile, the system will automatically begin exploring new set-ups to help re-engage users.
See more work from Carlo Ratti Associati here.
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