Gallery: MIT Whizzes Invent Magical Furniture That Changes Shape on Demand

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    Photos by MIT
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    MIT's Tangible Media Group created Transform, a vision of what could be the shape-shifting furniture of the future.
  • Image may contain Furniture Tabletop Interior Design Indoors Plant Computer Keyboard Electronics and Keyboard
    Photos by MIT
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    The device is made from more than 1,000 pins that react to both computer software and human interaction.
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    Photos by MIT
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    Each pin is attached to a motor, which controls how they move.
  • The pins can shape shift to create predetermined animations.
    Photo: MIT
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    The pins can shape shift to create predetermined animations.
  • Image may contain Building Office Building Architecture Staircase City Town and Urban
    Photos by MIT
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    Or it can detect human motion via Kinect and react accordingly. As you wave your hand above the pins, they'll shy away like a school of fish dispersing.
  • Image may contain Hiroshi Ishii Human Person Clothing and Apparel
    Photos by MIT
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    The idea is that in the future, our furniture will be able to respond to us, whether that be to our emotions or to physical motion. Pictured here: Hiroshi Ishii, the director of the Tangible Media group at the MIT Media Lab.
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