We’ve nearly reached a time in technology when furniture is more than just pieces of wood and metal screwed on together. Instead, we could soon be using furniture that pack advanced robotics, capable of transforming for a multitude of applications. Heading this innovation are the researchers from the Biorobotics Laboratory at the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EFPL) in Switzerland who have created modular shape-changing robots christened the Roombots. These 3D reconfigurable robots can change shape and can be used as a base for adaptive furniture! Simply put, using these robots, furniture manufacturers will now be able to create tables that are capable of automatically converting into chairs, stools and more.

And that’s not all. These groups of Roombots can also communicate with each other and connect autonomously to move around the room to locations preferred by the user. That said, you won’t need to drag that cushioned chair to the television anymore. The chair will just move to your favorite spot on its own! The researchers behind this project have also received a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and are now looking to put these innovations to use to create multifunctional and assistive robotic furniture that will interact with users.