A motorized IKEA sofa isn’t the most practical of furniture pieces, but when you have old hoverboard hardware laying around, this is the result, or at least for an inventor and his group of friends in Berlin. They just so happened to have a few broken hoverboards laying around, along with an electric bike battery, so they hacked together a functional drivetrain.
It did take a few tries to get everything pieced together successfully, as driving the motors directly by using the gyro controller didn’t quite work out since the 9-bit communication protocol could not be decoded. They eventually needed to turn to the internet where custom hoverboard firmware was found that allowed them to control the hoverboard hardware with a Wii Nunchuk controller. The hoverboard motors were then screwed to the bottom of the couch, while caster wheels at the rear corners kept things balanced, or so they thought. Speaking of furniture, this Cappellini Adaptation Sofa is not broken, just a clever optical illusion.
- Eye-catching black design, compact at 28 lbs, 220 lbs max load. Age: 16-50. Height: 3.11-6.6".
- High-performance battery: Dual 400W motors, 10 mph max speed, 13.7 miles per charge, 15° slope.
- Illuminating LED lights for visibility.
