Watch robotic furniture transform this N.J. studio apartment (VIDEO)

There are only so many ways to make a studio apartment feel big. In Harrison, they're trying robots.

Or robotic furniture, that is.

At Steel Works, a 286-unit luxury apartment in the city's Riverbend District, the push of a button -- or a prompt to a third-party system like Alexa -- seamlessly transforms a single piece of furniture from a bedroom to a closet to a work area, and right back to a bedroom when needed.

Steel Works is one of 13 developments in 10 cities across North America to test out the product created by Ori, a Massachussetts-based robotic furniture company.

The Ori system stands nearly 8-feet tall and houses the bed (either queen or full size), closet and a desk. It's built on tracks, allowing it to slide from wall-to-wall, retracting and expanding to create the different spaces and uses.

Just plug it into an outlet to get started.

Time for bed?

"Alexa, ask Ori to create my bedroom." 

With that, the furniture carefully slides on the tracks to reveal the bed. When it's time to use the closet or to create more living space in the studio, just ask Alexa again, or make a single tap on the furniture's interface or through Ori's app, and the systems slides back over the bed, creating a bigger space on the other side.

As floods of young people pour into metropolitan areas across the United States -- a rush that is swelling rent prices, while simultaneously shrinking the size of units, this futuristic furniture is meant to amplify the functionality of 400-square-foot studio apartment into one that feels much bigger, said Hasier Larrea, founder and CEO of Ori.

"We come from an era where we basically relate square footage and functionality in a very linear way, meaning the more square footage you have, the more functionality you have," said Larrea, who began research and product development of Ori at MIT's Media Lab.

Currently, the Ori product is in the midst of a pilot program, putting the robotic furniture in markets where tenants could be interested when production of 500 units starts in 2018.

Larrea and his team identified the developments in cities that are experiencing the mass urbanization trend, like Boston, New York, San Francisco and Vancouver, to test the product and gauge people's responsiveness to it.

Harrison may not have the same name recognition as the other locales, but rising prices in bigger cities have driven people outward, to places like Harrison, where communities are diversifying and mass transit is present, Larrea said.

He said Harrison was an intriguing place to test the product because of the Riverbend District development that is underway next to Red Bull Arena and adjacent to the Harrison PATH station, an area that will cater to young professionals in the region.

DeBartolo Development, a national development company, and Advance Realty, a New Jersey-based real estate company, have partnered to develop five blocks of the district, which will ultimately be home to 1,000 luxury apartments, 20,000-square-feet of retail space and a hotel.

The first phase of the district at Steel Works has one of the Ori systems in a model room to showcase the product to future tenants in that building or elsewhere in the district.

"This (product) allows a small apartment to have a lot bigger usage," said Holly Garcia, executive vice president for DeBartolo. "It gives you volume in the places you need it during the times of the day you need it, which is very different from a lot of other furniture solutions."

Currently, rent prices at Steel Works for a studio apartment range from $1,815 for a 423-square-foot apartment to $2,020 for a 561-square-foot apartment. Steve Shaw, senior development manager for DeBartolo, said he anticipates rents with the Ori systems would be 10 to 15 percent higher.

Venture capital firm Khosla Ventures led a series of funding for Ori, a private company, and raised $6 million earlier this year as Ori looks to continue to expand as they prepare for production of the units.

For concerns about the furniture's use when the power is out, Larrea said the product can manually transform without electricity, and that years of product development and the pilot program have made them confident in the reliability of the furniture.

"We see these kind of technologies as liberating in the sense that these are enabling technologies that will allow urban living to be sustainable," he said. "You are going to make it possible for people to live large in a small footprint."

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @jatmonavageNJFind NJ.com on Facebook

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