The Chairless Chair, an invisible chair that you can wear

http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/20/tech/innovation/the-chairless-chair/index.html?hpt=hp_c4

by 51Cards • 12 years ago

220 68 12 years ago

cnn.com

tofof• 12 years ago

Sure playing fast and loose with "invisible", aren't we CNN?

crazypyro3• 12 years ago

Clearly, invisible only means able to be hidden by cloth.

swombat• 12 years ago

Awesome invention. If they can make it even less intrusive people might start wearing it in daily life. Not sure how to feel about the "Chairolution" slogan, though.

kalendae• 12 years ago

found a 2008 article on similar honda 'legs' http://www.wired.com/2008/11/honda-announces/

josephschmoe• 12 years ago

This sounds really useful. If it's less than 100$, I could see it selling very well outside of a convention.

If a future iteration is cheap, light and can be worn below clothes, I could really see this catching on.

fnazeeri• 12 years ago

Sitting is the new smoking. This thing is like the e-cig of chairs...

crazypyro3• 12 years ago

I don't understand this analogy. Care to explain?

anigbrowl2• 12 years ago

Sitting too much can cause health problems (not because of the sitting itself but the lack of exercise that often accompanies sit-down jobs). It's been fashionable to say 'sitting is killing people' and suchlike in the popular media.

pedalpete• 12 years ago

Sitting for long hours is 'claimed' to be bad for your health. Not that I am disputing the claim, I actually agree and have gone back and forth between standing desk and sitting desk. I say 'claimed' because I think more research is still required. Standing all day can be quite fatiguing as well.

jasonkester• 12 years ago

A few hundred years late, and a bit on the expensive side compared to its competition:

https://www.google.com/search?q=strap+on+milking+stool&tbm=i...

I built one of these for backpacking trips for a little less than $5 for a wooden disk, a couple plumbing bits and a clip belt. Silly looking when you're walking around with it, but infinitely better than sitting on a wet log next to the campfire.

maxharris• 12 years ago

The "strap-on milking stool" is not the same thing at all. The chairless chair supports in a range of positions, from standing to sitting.

Also, having to balance on two axes with the milking stool is much harder than with the chairless chair, which only requires you to balance on axis.

rosser2• 12 years ago

It may be more difficult, but it's probably better for you. Before I went full-time standing desk, I sat on an exercise ball all day for years, and my core strength and sense of balance reflect that.

devindotcom• 12 years ago

Come on now, it's very, very similar.

I think with your feet wide you enter a pretty stable tripod stance. And you could easily adjust the length of the chair or give it feet. But since, I presume, neither of us has tried either device, it's all academic, isn't it?

Terr_2• 12 years ago

There's some NSFW content in that first page of search results...

sparkzilla• 12 years ago

Mooooo!

markild• 12 years ago

Only if you have safe search turned off.

anigbrowl2• 12 years ago

I expected the worst from the headline but this is actually pretty neat. Seems like it could improve safety as well in production environments where workbenches or sit stools could present a trip hazard (eg if you're manhandling large objects that obstruct your view of the ground).

stang• 12 years ago

Invisible chairs have been around for a long long time: http://i.imgur.com/tIIBKCY.jpg

socceroos• 12 years ago

You are correct sir. And as an added benefit, it keeps you nice and limber.

wuliwong2• 12 years ago

My buddy has been pitching the idea of "chair pants" to me for a decade at least. Glad to see someone finally executed on this. :)

rsl72• 12 years ago

Now we just need those keyboard pants. you know, with half a keyboard on each thigh.

skeoh• 12 years ago

Keyboard pants exist!

http://www.nieuweheren.com/products/beauty-and-the-geek/

iovar• 12 years ago

It looks really uncomfortable to me.

Straps holding it in place, only two pads beneath your butt and no back support.

Maybe in a two minute demonstration it's ok, but wear it all day and I bet it will feel like a jail.

As for the assembly worker video example, it doesn't seem like a well-thought use case.

Why not use a stool? Cheaper and might have some back support.

Also, off the top of my head:

What happens if you forget and lean backwards, even a bit ?

How much time does it take to put it on and take it off?

How easy is it to put it on in a slightly incorrect manner and twist and break your leg?

Guvante• 12 years ago

Why not use a stool? Cheaper and might have some back support.

Look at what the guy is doing. A stool will probably only cover 30% (if that) of his work.

What happens if you forget and lean backwards, even a bit ?

What happens if you are on a stool without a back and lean backwards?

How much time does it take to put it on and take it off?

It sounds like you only put it on once per day and just leave it on disabled without significantly impacting your movement.

snowwrestler• 12 years ago

If you lean back on a stool you will kick your legs out to cancel the momentum. It's an unconscious reflex. Can't do that if your legs are strapped down though.

drcode• 12 years ago

It's gotta suck or be vaporware, given that no single video exists on the entirety of the internet of the device in action... only cheesy renderings and stills.

wehadfun• 12 years ago

seems like it would hurt.

ChuckMcM• 12 years ago

Interesting concept. I used to carry a 'nada chair'[1] in my backpack when hiking, I suspect this is much heavier though. I could totally see it as a huge win for folks who had to stand while customers were around (think the guy selling food from a cart on the street). If you motorized it so that it helped older people stand up then it could be a double win for them.

[1] http://www.gingerbreadshows.com/nadachair/

mcguire• 12 years ago

Also found at: http://www.nadachair.com/ Reasonably comfortable, too.

bane• 12 years ago

This appears to be something that's solved with the Asian Squat. It's not fashionable in the West to do this so we don't build up the right flexibility and tendon strength to do it comfortably. But if you can train yourself to do it, you can do it for hours. It's basically human's default "sitting" position.

http://www.mykoreanhusband.com/asian-squatting/

atwebb• 12 years ago

That doesn't look as good for production line work where you'll need to be working on something a few feet off the ground and doesn't have nearly the amount of positions or support. It's definitely a lot cheaper though.

yareally• 12 years ago

Looks very similar to the position a catcher in baseball would take.

aabajian• 12 years ago

Crossfit emphasizes keeping your feet flat, butt down, and back straight while squatting. After a few months of it, you can squat like this for hours.

skeletonjelly• 12 years ago

Back squat in general yeah.

ohitsdom• 12 years ago

Completely different from the use case shown in the video. Looks like the chairless chair works at many angles.

Widdershin• 12 years ago

I gained this skill thanks to a high school production in which I played a gargoyle-esque character, who spent a lot of time squatting on rocks.

girvo• 12 years ago

Whoah. I'm not asian, far from it (though I did spend 12 months in Busan, South Korea when I was 16) and I "sit" like that. I find it extremely comfortable; whenever my legs are feeling sore from standing or walking around, that's the position I will rest in. Didn't realise it was a thing, or tied to a culture! Neat.

skrebbel• 12 years ago

Everything's a thing. You'd be surprised. And there's books, blogs and lifehacks about it.

PeterisP• 12 years ago

It's tied to a culture because if you don't ever use that position, then for many adults it's extremely uncomfortable or even impossible to achieve, as the lower calf tendons don't allow you to squat with your feet flat on the ground, but only while balancing on the balls of your feet - which is not that comfortable for long 'sitting'.

For cultures that habitually use squat toilets, everyone can hold that position; but for other cultures many people can't.

SiVal• 12 years ago

Yeah, it's a thing. I'm not Asian either, and I also taught myself to do it when living in Korea as a teenager long ago. Koreans took for granted that the ground was filthy--with good reason in those days. They would never touch it with anything but their shoes, then remove their shoes on entering any place where they DID sit on the floor (home, some restaurants). So, when outside for extended periods, they would use their own legs as a chair, which I found very difficult to do at first. But I trained myself, and my kids (who can't do it) think it's a very amusing skill.

benihana• 12 years ago

I've heard it called the third world squat:

https://www.google.com/search?q=third%20world%20squat

Kluny• 12 years ago

I have never been able to achieve that position, not even when I was a toddler.

mivanov• 12 years ago

The name reminds me of this SNL sketch: https://screen.yahoo.com/art-dealers-susan-greg-meet-0000008...

ScotterC• 12 years ago

Guessing that a lot of people are going to read the name as no-one.

allochthon• 12 years ago

A tiny step closer to mass-market robotic exoskeletons.

trhway• 12 years ago

Last slide suggests that RyanAir would love it.

jonknee• 12 years ago

We've come full circle--from a standing job to a desk job to a standing desk job to a standing job where you can sit on your pants.

reddog• 12 years ago

This would perfect with my standing desk!

EGreg• 12 years ago

I remember when I was singing in the Juilliard pre college chorus as a kid, we had to stabd for hours on end in a concert. I wanted to make pants that go above the knees and lock into place, so they support me standing. So I wanted to build a low tech version of this when I was a kid :)

haversine• 12 years ago

I bet pregnant women would like a version of this which supported their body weight sporadically throughout the day, especially in the late third trimester.

Hell, I want one to help me do the dishes. There's somewhere a stool wouldn't make much sense.

colordrops• 12 years ago

This seems to be a stepping stone to widespread fully powered exoskeletons. I could imagine the next version of this supporting lifting capability.

2810• 12 years ago

I think it can be even more invisible.. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmkGFHTjRg

m-app• 12 years ago

These guys are definitely streets behind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxzypwdDdo8

Shivetya• 12 years ago

Question, if standing desks are so great then why is standing at work considered bad? Only reason I can come up with is that with the desk you can set its height

The Chairless Chair, an invisible chair that you can wear

Related Stories