Last weekend, I looked at my broken motorized recliner couch + my un-used Raspberry Pi’s and decided to answer the age old question… Can I bring my furniture to life?

We’ve seen this done in movies with curses and magic (Beauty and the Beast, Paranormal Activity), but i’m going to attempt a more technology-oriented approach. (VIDEO for the impatient)

Sneak peak

The Specimen.

First thought: The software seems possible.

Being a Home Automation nerd, I have read about ways to trick Apple’s HomeKit into thinking your Raspberry Pi is a HomeKit device by spoofing the HAP (HomeKit Accessory Protocol) over your network.

Second thought: I wonder how this couch works 🤔

I cannot for my life find a wiring diagram online, so there’s only one way to find out…

Disembowelment.

Gross.

Finding #1: She’s full of grease (hence the towels)

Always wear your Safety Gauntlets ™️

Finding #2: There’s a huge 30v DC motor that spins at constant speed and advances up and down a rail which actuates the leggy bits.

Finding #3: Theres a board inside the motor. Multimeter suggests that it is for cutting the power (in one direction) when the motor hits the ends of the track. This is where the little side buttons plug in too.

Side buttons housing. (Cherry DB2)

Finding #4: This 2 switch arrangement on the side of the couch just provides power (in two different polarities) to the motor by using an ‘H’ pattern, like so…

So why isn’t the left side working? Trail-and-error makes me think that one switch is sticky and it would just need to be replaced to restore function. 🤞

In the meantime, let me think about how I could wire relays in a way that my renter’s insurance would approve of. …just kidding, they wouldn’t approve of any of this.

Let’s just try not to damage the GPIO pins. (Foreshadowing)

Disclaimer: My experience with circuit design is remedial at best, a lot of this involves me figuring out EE 101.

My instinct is to just slap on another controller parallel to the default one, but instead of switches it would use relays. Then, join the two controllers back up at the motor and call it a day. Just like plugging two keyboards into your computer, right? Wrong 🚫