Self-parking chairs at conference tables show Nissan's auto push

Self-parking chairs at conference tables show Nissan's auto push

An amusing video has surfaced about an intelligent parking chair inspired by Nissan; the video shows the chairs swinging into action, self-guiding to finally park at a table in response to a person's claps.

They can also reverse and turn. T3 called them "robo thrones." Its story said, "Japanese car manufacturer Nissan continues its foray into the world of robotics with a series of experimental motorized chairs." Nissan, it said, pulled this off, in step with Okamura; the latter is a furniture maker with a portfolio that includes business-ready furniture for offices and conference rooms.

Nissan sent out a news release on its self-moving chairs on Monday. The company stated, "The 'Intelligent Parking Chair' is a unique chair that automatically moves to a set position. The chair includes a roller to automatically move 360 degrees paired with a system that indicates the target position. Four cameras placed on the room's ceiling generate a bird's-eye view to wirelessly transmit the chair's position and its route to destination."

Nissan, said T3, took an Okamura chair and fitted motors to drive the wheels at its base. "The chairs themselves are controlled over Wi-Fi via a series of four motion-sensitive cameras positioned around a room, which direct the chairs to neatly fill gaps on a given table."

But wait a minute. Nissan's announcement referred to a lift from the" troublesome task" of arranging chairs. How lazy are we? Or would self-parking chairs be a genuine boost to efficiency considering manual labor deployed to set up conference rooms? Would it shave labor off assistants having to position numerous tables and according to meeting mode and head count?

Do not feel guilty if you think this is just a publicity stunt to show off Nissan's expert handling of driver-assist technology. The tech was used as publicity to promote Nissan's new intelligent parking assist technology; the message being, if the technology can park a chair properly, then it can help you park a car just as easily, noted T3.

Nissan's announcement confirmed the reason behind the video. "The Intelligent Parking Chair is a promotional project that materializes Nissan's corporate vision of 'enriching people's lives through technology.' It was produced in collaboration with the award-winning creative team BIRDMAN. This concept aims at increasing knowledge around the latest technology adopted by Nissan vehicles, while showing how this is slowly changing our daily lives."

Last month, Fortune reported on a test drive with the autonomous all-electric LEAF, made by Nissan. "Using a combination of 12 cameras, four side-panel laser scanners, a trunk full of computing power and access to detailed mapping data, the self-piloted car can mostly drive itself."

Nissan is moving with considerable focus on getting this right.

Fortune said Nissan brought its self-driving car to Silicon Valley to start testing on U.S. roads; its Silicon Valley Research center "is critical for Nissan's research into artificial intelligence and connected cars."

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