To make a stow away bed that also 'makes' itself presents a few challenges.
In the movie, The Fifth Element, (at the 18:00 mark) the slept in mattress and sheets slide away into the wall , a freshly made (and plastic wrapped) made bed pops up to replace it and then the whole bed frame slides away into the wall cavity. There would have to be a service space at least as wide as the bed between every flat to accommodate this. A bed has to go somewhere.
An alternative to the sliding bed is the folding bed (Murphy Bed), where the bed folds up into a cabinet that looks similar to a built in cupboard. Clever designs have the bed folding down over a couch, desk, or other pieces of furniture that are unlikely to be used when the bed is being used. You can even get side folding single beds that allow a top bunk to be hidden until needed.
Regardless of the way the bed slides or folds, it is still operated by a simple motor / gas strut and would need the following sensors / controls...
Manual Controls - a way of telling the bed that you want it to come out from the storage space, or to retract.
Stop Sensor - tells the bed to stop retracting / ejecting, when it reaches its desired closed / open position.
A Weight Sensor - to stop it folding into the wall when someone is still lying down. This function seems to be missing in the film as at the 1:04 mark, the bed is manually closed with a person in it. The re-emerge on a clean bed, wrapped in plastic and nearly suffocating.
A Timer / Clock - to stop the bed sliding away automatically should you get out of bed in the middle of the night and plan on returning to bed, but allows it to fold away automatically if it is past a pre-determined 'wake up' time.
Assuming that the bed operates automatically, or can me activated by operated by a press of a single button (as it does in the film), the flowchart of actions should look like this...
This is a basic flowchart. For safety there should be alarms, and safety stops built in to alert a user if a function is not working due to weight on the bed or an obstruction in its path.
The actual flowchart for the code will be presented in different orders but this is a good mind map from a user point of view.
OK, so the bed now folds away when it should (and not when it shouldn't), but what about the self making bit?
The self making bit could be achieved very simply by using a 'Murphy' bed that folds up into the wall (providing the pillows are at the bottom, and the foot of the bed is at the top when folded).
Providing we are in an environment with gravity, then if the bottom of the sheets, blankets, and other bed coverings were attached to the foot of the mattress, they should fall down flat against the mattress when the bed is folded up.
A shelf located at the head of the bed would catch anything that may have been left in the bed as it falls downwards and will stay put for easy retrieval when the bed is folded down again.
In the movie, The Fifth Element, (at the 18:00 mark) the slept in mattress and sheets slide away into the wall , a freshly made (and plastic wrapped) made bed pops up to replace it and then the whole bed frame slides away into the wall cavity. There would have to be a service space at least as wide as the bed between every flat to accommodate this. A bed has to go somewhere.
An alternative to the sliding bed is the folding bed (Murphy Bed), where the bed folds up into a cabinet that looks similar to a built in cupboard. Clever designs have the bed folding down over a couch, desk, or other pieces of furniture that are unlikely to be used when the bed is being used. You can even get side folding single beds that allow a top bunk to be hidden until needed.
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| IMAGE: Murphy Bed. Source: https://expandfurniture.com/product/murphysofa-clean/ |
Regardless of the way the bed slides or folds, it is still operated by a simple motor / gas strut and would need the following sensors / controls...
Manual Controls - a way of telling the bed that you want it to come out from the storage space, or to retract.
Stop Sensor - tells the bed to stop retracting / ejecting, when it reaches its desired closed / open position.
A Weight Sensor - to stop it folding into the wall when someone is still lying down. This function seems to be missing in the film as at the 1:04 mark, the bed is manually closed with a person in it. The re-emerge on a clean bed, wrapped in plastic and nearly suffocating.
A Timer / Clock - to stop the bed sliding away automatically should you get out of bed in the middle of the night and plan on returning to bed, but allows it to fold away automatically if it is past a pre-determined 'wake up' time.
Assuming that the bed operates automatically, or can me activated by operated by a press of a single button (as it does in the film), the flowchart of actions should look like this...
This is a basic flowchart. For safety there should be alarms, and safety stops built in to alert a user if a function is not working due to weight on the bed or an obstruction in its path.
The actual flowchart for the code will be presented in different orders but this is a good mind map from a user point of view.
OK, so the bed now folds away when it should (and not when it shouldn't), but what about the self making bit?
The self making bit could be achieved very simply by using a 'Murphy' bed that folds up into the wall (providing the pillows are at the bottom, and the foot of the bed is at the top when folded).
Providing we are in an environment with gravity, then if the bottom of the sheets, blankets, and other bed coverings were attached to the foot of the mattress, they should fall down flat against the mattress when the bed is folded up.
A shelf located at the head of the bed would catch anything that may have been left in the bed as it falls downwards and will stay put for easy retrieval when the bed is folded down again.
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