Dive Brief:

• Hand gestures, touch and voice commands drive a prototype modular furniture unit that two MIT researchers have designed to solve the problem of how to have both guests for dinner and somewhere to sleep in a 600-square-foot micro apartment.
• The bed can be told to go away and a desk that doubles as a dining table told to come out, and cooking areas can be tucked away.
• The whole modular unit also can move itself, reallocating space from the bathroom to the living area and then going the other way when needed. 

Dive Insight:

Principal Research Scientist Kent Larson, who teaches a course called City Science, and associate Hasier Larrea at the School of Architecture and Planning also have controls for lighting and window blinds built into the system they call CityHome. They hope to find funding to put the system into production.