Robotic Chair Maquette - 1985

Sculpture 

Wood, metal, wire 

32” x 16” x 16” 

Collection: National Gallery of Canada archive

A collaboration with George Hollinworth


The Robotic Chair sculpture is a common-looking wooden chair with robotic capabilities. The chair has the ability to fall apart and reassemble itself. The sculpture is modelled upon those wooden chairs found most often in classrooms, offices and waiting rooms, although some concessions in appearance and materials have been made to facilitate the movement of the parts and the robotic arm.  

The Robotic Chair will be displayed out of the public's reach. At some unannounced time and for no apparent reason the chair collapses. the back and four legs of the chair separate from the seat and fall to the ground. While appearing to fall randomly, the landing location of the pieces is controlled somewhat by a mechanism located in each of the leg and back joints. (these mechanisms are responsible for holding the legs and back in position when the chair is upright.)

Once the chair has collapsed the robotic arm, housed in the seat of the chair, is activated. The arm emerges from the underside of the seat and turns the seat over. With the seat upside down a vision system will determine the location of the chair back and individual legs. the vision system will need to differentiate between the various legs.

Having identified and located the components, the robot proceeds to follow a predefined pick-and-place routine to assemble the chair. The arm first picks up a leg and inserts it into a sleeve-like gripper. As the leg is lowered into a sleeve a mechanism is triggered and the sleeve binds the leg to the seat.

Once the four legs are in place the robot turns its attention to the back of the chair, which has been previously located. the arm grabs the back, at a predetermined spot, and raises it to a vertical position on the floor. Using the back as a crutch, the arm, through a series of maneuvers, moves the seat with the attached legs from an upside-down position, to a horizontal position, and finally to an upright position. The arm then lifts the back and lowers it into place where it is secured by a pair of sleeve grippers. with the chair reassembled the arm retracts into the underside of the seat.

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Von Heir Nach Da - 1983

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Prototype - 1986