Design and implementation of an intelligent and adaptive mechanical mattress

Abstract

In this thesis, we present and implement a radical new concept of mattress, which is both intelligent and capable of mechanically adjust itself to comfortably accommodate any body shape and posture. It does so by controlling many linear actuators and by reading many pressure sensors to obtain updated information of the user's weight distribution and posture. The surface of the mattress is formed by the top side of many linear actuators placed vertically in a grid. The project can be divided in 4 big components: mechanical, electronic, algorithmic and AI. These parts interact between them to obtain the desired result, but the specific implementation of them is fairly independent while maintaining a compatible interface. We give an explicit implementation of these components and show them in a working prototype. In the presented implementation, many new and original ideas are introduced to obtain a scalable design that deals with trade-offs regarding cost, complexity, accuracy and agility, among others.