The students at MIT devised The SOFT Rocker project which is a lounger for resting and the amazing thing is that people can recharge the batteries of any eventual devices they have got with them. The system that makes this possible uses the human power of balance to create an interactive 1.5 axis, 35 watt solar tracking system. An interesting fact is that the lounger boasts with a 12-ampere hour battery that stores the solar energy gathered during the day, making it possible for its owner to recharge the batteries of his/her devices after sunset as well.

The MIT press release describes: “The leaf-like loop form of the SOFT Rockers explores how standard softwood panels can be mass-customized to adapt to the latitude and sun angle of any site using parametric design software and automated fabrication with a lightweight Kuka robotic arm. The SOFT Rocker combines hi-tech and low-tech design strategies: it produces electricity but engages the body and works like furniture “by hand”; it mixes sun tracking and social dynamics; it is a site specific object and a flexible form family of ‘soft’ wood construction. The SOFT Rocker blurs distinctions between pleasure and work and recasts power generation as an integrated and distributed public activity rather than a centralized, singular off-site project of ‘engineering’.