Robot Conquers One of the Hardest Human Tasks: Assembling Ikea Furniture

[SummerMadness]

Robot Conquers One of the Hardest Human Tasks: Assembling Ikea Furniture

Robots have taken our jobs, learned our chores and beaten us at our own games.

Now researchers in Singapore say they have trained one to perform another task known to confound humans: figuring out how to assemble furniture from Ikea.

A team from Nanyang Technological University programmed a robot to create and execute a plan to piece together most of Ikea’s $25 solid-pine Stefan chair on its own, calling on a medley of human skills to do so. The researchers explained their work in a study published on Wednesday in the journal Science Robotics.

It all began with Ikea...

 

[trunks2k]

Am I the only person that hasn't had trouble assembling Ikea furniture?

 

[A_Thinker]

Link doesn't work ...

 

[SummerMadness]

Link doesn't work ...

Sorry, fixed.

 

[SummerMadness]

Am I the only person that hasn't had trouble assembling Ikea furniture?

I've never had an issue with Ikea furniture, but I quickly shifted to designing and building my own furniture. I could spend around the same amount of money and get something sturdier. It was a little easier living in a city with a tool library and some lumber mills outside the city, it was the perfect combination for building things in an apartment.

 

[Goonie]

I’m confused, what’s ikea and robots got to do with racism???

 

[Go Braves]

Robot Conquers One of the Hardest Human Tasks: Assembling Ikea Furniture


It all began with Ikea...

I could have used those robots last summer. My girlfriend & her friends got their 1st apartment last summer. They're students so IKEA fit the budget. Her dad & I put almost all the furniture together. Gracious was that a task. Some pieces were simple enough. It took the two of us the whole day just to put the sofa together. 6 hours to put together a bed with drawers underneath. Everything from there, & I do mean everything down to the lamp shades, had to be assembled.

 

[SummerMadness]

I could have used those robots last summer. My girlfriend & her friends got their 1st apartment last summer. They're students so IKEA fit the budget. Her dad & I put almost all the furniture together. Gracious was that a task. Some pieces were simple enough. It took the two of us the whole day just to put the sofa together. 6 hours to put together a bed with drawers underneath. Everything from there, & I do mean everything down to the lamp shades, had to be assembled.

When I moved to my first apartment, I stayed with a family member while I apartment hunted. When I finally found a place, my cousin graciously gave me some money to buy a bed, so I went to the mattress store and lay on almost every mattress until I found my mattress. But I never bought a frame, I simply used the free metal frame that came with the bed. A few years later, I really wanted a real bed, so I looked at Ikea, but found no satisfaction with their designs (I bought my couch, coffee table, and dresser from Ikea), so I found a DIY website that had a nice platform bed design. It took a little longer than a day, but I built a platform bed from scratch and from that day on, I've wanted to replace anything I have from Ikea with something built with my hands.

 

[Tanj]

to piece together most of

I'd be less than happy to sit in "most of" a chair.

 

[Go Braves]

When I moved to my first apartment, I stayed with a family member while I apartment hunted. When I finally found a place, my cousin graciously gave me some money to buy a bed, so I went to the mattress store and lay on almost every mattress until I found my mattress. But I never bought a frame, I simply used the free metal frame that came with the bed. A few years later, I really wanted a real bed, so I looked at Ikea, but found no satisfaction with their designs (I bought my couch, coffee table, and dresser from Ikea), so I found a DIY website that had a nice platform bed design. It took a little longer than a day, but I built a platform bed from scratch and from that day on, I've wanted to replace anything I have from Ikea with something built with my hands.

It would be great to see a picture of the bed you made, if you're up for sharing.

I think IKEA is fine, though what you make yourself is almost always going to be superior. I think some of the value of the IKEA pieces are lost when you take into account the time it takes to put them together. Now with small things like a coffee table, what have you, that would be fine. When my buddy was furnishing his first place he just bought IKEA furniture from students who'd just graduated. Already assembled, in fine condition, & cheaper. I just came with my truck to move things & by lunchtime the whole place was already ready to live in.