Most of the wearable gadgets getting people
hot and bothered either strap onto your face or
your wrist, but Swiss startup noonee has
cooked up a little something that straps to
your legs instead. Well, fine, maybe it's not
exactly little : in a bid to keep factory line
workers more alert and more comfortable
during their shifts, the five person team has
developed a locking leg support device they call
the Chairless Chair. Once you get strapped in,
all it takes is a press of a button to get settled
-- the aluminum and carbon fiber frame holds
whatever position your legs take and
essentially becomes, well, an invisible chair.
The secret sauce here is a battery-powered
dampening system eases the load on your
lower back and legs by supporting the your
body weight and directing it down into your
heels. Noonee's curious wearable is still firmly
in the prototype phase (though Audi and BMW
will soon take the thing for spin on its
production lines) but if it works as well as the
team says it does, expect every haggard
commuter -- or frenzied blogger cranking out
stories at a trade show -- to own one soon
enough.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/21/chairless-chair/?ncid=e