Hasta La Gadget!

There’s nothing worse than wanting to sit down and relax, and the chair you sit in is hard as a rock and hurts your back and butt. Sitting is supposed to be comfortable. I’m a big fan of comfy chairs. This concept design could be the comfiest chair ever.

Designed by Yu-Ying Wu, the Breathing Chair is constructed of high-density foam, made from environmentally-friendly materials. When not in use, the chair is a big cube with rounded corners, but when you sit on it, the chair conforms to your body.

By layering thin sheets of of foam and putting triangular holes in them, the chair quickly changes form, and springs back to its original shape when you stand up.

The Breathing Chair sure looks comfy to me, but it’s only a design prototype at this point. Hopefully, a furniture company will pick up the idea at some point and produce these. I’d like to see a couch version too.

[via LFW]

Some people resort to delivering blows when they can’t agree with someone. Maybe that would be excusable if you were a kid (even though it still wouldn’t be right), but it’s beyond embarrassing to be a fully-grown adult who gets into fistfights on a regular basis just because you can’t make your point across without having to resort to force.

This is where mediation should come in. And what better way to do these sessions than in the Mediation Chair?

It looks pretty confusing at first, but at second glance, you’ll see that there are actually three seats positioned side-by-side. One for you, one for the mediator in the middle (facing the other way), and one for the other party.

Designer Peter Sas explains: “The chair is highly functional, and clearly designed with Rietveld’s archetype in mind. The way you in which you sit is also really important. You always sit constrained in a group discussion. The chair, because of its zigzag construction, forces you to always look straight ahead and you can always get up and walk away. That gives the feeling of freedom.”

The bit about being able to walk away is pretty clever, don’t you think?

[via Chair Blog]

Why choose between legs and wheels when you can have both? Well, that’s the theory behind a robotic wheelchair concept from the Chiba Institute of Technology, which uses leg-like motion to conquer obstacles a run-of-the-mill wheelchair can’t. The key is the five axes its base rotates on, allowing individual wheels to be lifted off the ground and moved in a walking style. It can tackle steps and various other obstacles whilst remaining stable, and can even turn 360 degrees around its center with the help of some onboard stabilizers. A gang of sensors on the chair detect incoming obstructions and deal with them automatically, but changes in wheel torque can act as substitute triggers, should the sensors fail. Judging from the video below, it’s pretty advanced for a concept, but its creator wants a bunch of people to try it out so he can “fine-tune the user experience.” It may not be quite as cool as Stompy or the mighty Kuratas, but it’s definitely more practical for a trip to the shops.

Continue reading Robotic wheelchair concept adds leg-like movement, tackles stairs with ease (video)

Filed under: Robots, Transportation

Robotic wheelchair concept adds leg-like movement, tackles stairs with ease (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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These chairs are nothing like the egg chairs we showed you almost a year ago. This time around, these chairs are for human seating and not for your hard-boiled (or soft-boiled) eggs.

These matching egg chair and table sets weren’t made for some cafe or restaurant. Rather, they’re actually what you’ll find in Le Nid, which is a hip and very unusual bar located at the top of the Brittany Tower in France, which overlooks the entire city of Nantes.

Le Nid, which is French for ‘the nest’, definitely goes all out with its nest theme, since the bar is actually located inside the body of a huge, long-necked bird.

Le Nid was designed by French graphic designer, Jean Jullien.

[via Entertainment Designer]

I’ve never been able to keep up on all the different Pokémon. Somewhere around Pikachu and Squirtle, I lose track. Though, I’m definitely familiar with Snorlax, a big, roly-poly guy who looks like the fattest, laziest Pokémon in all of Kanto. In fact, his abilities include “Thick Fat” and “Gluttony”. I’m not kidding. Now, you can take a nap on his big Poké-belly, courtesy of the Snorlax bean bag chair.

This full-size bean bag chair is handmade by Ashley over at A Geek Boutique. It looks like the perfect place to curl up and count ‘em all (and I’m talking about sheep, not Pokémon). Thankfully, it weighs just a few pounds – way less than the 1014 pounds that an actual Snorlax weighs. If Snorlaxes actually existed, that is.

So gather up all your Pokédollars, and head on over to Etsy to order your very own Snorlax bean bag. It’s $299(USD) – not including the beans – in order to cut down on shipping cost, but she’ll sell you the beans too if you’re okay with the extra cost. I’ve been told that the Snorlax has a taste for refried beans, so you might want to go with those.