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'Posture Feedback Chair' Discourages Slouching With Annoying Buzz

by Matthew Zuras on August 11, 2010 at 04:35 PM

ying zheng sitting in posture feedback chair
Maybe you are familiar with the terrible ABC comedy 'Better Off Ted.' We tried to get into it, thinking that Portia de Rossi of 'Arrested Development' could do no wrong, but we were very, very wrong. (To Ms. de Rossi's credit -- or rather, Mrs. DeGeneres -- she's still the best part of that turkey.) But we recall the pilot episode of 'Ted,' in which the protagonist invents a chair that is so uncomfortable that it forces office workers to become more productive. And we mention this because a couple of dudes just created this chair in real life.

John Morrell, a mechanical engineering professor at Yale (and, incidentally, the co-creator of the Segway), and grad student Ying Zheng may have not seen 'Ted' when they modified an already ergonomic Aeron chair to include sensors that know when you slouch. Sway from your Alexander technique positioning, and you'll get a buzz in your back. Zheng told the Yale Daily News, "The vibration is supposed to be an annoyance." Oh, goody!

The designers attached small vibrators called tactors to the shoulder, lumbar and front seat regions of what they call the 'Posture Feedback Chair' to keep you from leaning back, crossing your legs or slumping forward. Morrell came up with the idea after being diagnosed with tennis elbow, and the duo hopes to find medical applications for the annoying chair tech. Doctors and physical therapists could design a specific buzzing program for a given ailment and treat their patients with sheer aggravation. But Suzanne Labarre at FastCoDesign makes an excellent point about using positive reinforcement instead of annoyance: "[We] imagine a chair that kicks into massage mode every time you sit up properly. If you play your cards right, a day at the office might be more like eight hours at the spa." And that's what we bloggers need: more massages. [From: FastCoDesign]

Tags: aeron, AeronChair, AlexanderTechnique, BetterOffTed, design, ergonomics, JohnMorrell, PortiaDeRossi, posture, PostureFeedbackChair, tactor, top, yale, YingZheng

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