Keywords: LifeChair Posture Cushion | Workplace Wellbeing | HealthTech
My proudest invention to date, the LifeChair, a device that takes head on the global sedentary problem. The LifeChair is a smart cushion that uses sensors to classify the users sitting posture in real time and determine their current state and behaviour. The LifeChair cushion can be strapped onto most chairs to transform that chair into a smart chair. It can detect over 15 different types of sitting postures. Based on their detected posture the LifeChair provides vibrotactile feedback to assist the user in maintaining upright posture or as a reminder to exercise and take standing breaks. The LifeChair also connects to its own dedicated smartphone app where the user can track their performance, access a wide range of wellbeing features and customise their experience. The device utilizes my specially developed fabric sensing technology which allows for highly sensitive, highly adaptable and highly accurate human sensing applications. The technology itself has vast implementation in all areas of interface devices. The LifeChair is currently being used to empower people in the office, in the car and in hospitals.
The inspiration for the LifeChair was a combination of both personal experience and external observation. Growing up, I trained in martial arts for several years, where I learnt the importance of posture and form in every technique. As study intensified and work took over, I began to train less and less and spent much more time sitting down at my desk. At only 20 years old I already begun feeling daily neck and back pain as a result of my sedentary lifestyle. After moving to Japan for my PhD study, I was quick to notice that I was not the only one suffering from these problems. Many of my lab members would often complain about their posture related pain and every office I visited was lined with salarymen hunched over at their desks for hours on end. They tried many different remedies but to no avail. Expensive chairs, standing desks, screen adjustors, fancy pillows, exercise balls – they all seemed to work for a few days, but nothing stuck. It was really then that I realized that passive devices were just not cutting it – the world required a truly smart solution to keep up with modern office culture. The device needed to provide Active reminders to keep the user informed and engaged. From there, the rest is history – in a few months the LifeChair was born. This was really the origin of the LifeChair concept and the vision is going strong to this day.