My project is an attempt to design and fabricate a productivity workstation. This is a fancy name for a surface that allows one to work on: laptop work, writing, drawing etc...even eating. The productivity station is to allow the user to sit on the floor, stand and everything in between.
The productivity station is to allow for a traveller lifestyle, and so it fits in a standard large traveller suit case. It must be light, foldable.
The vision for the station is to use telescoping "legs". Those telescoping legs, will actuate (extend and contract) wirelessly.
I started with measurnments of a typical luggage bag. The thumbnail to the top right are measrunemnts for a Heys bag I use regularly, both externally and internally.
My Project
Reason for the project
Our bodies were simply not made to sit for a prolonged time. Witht the current work and living habits, we find ourselves sitting for much of our waking time: watching television, working at a computer, commuting, eating, exreting wastes, plaing video/board games, and the list goes on.
The health hazards of not moving much are wide ranging, says Dr. Joanne Foody, who directs the Cardiovascular Wellness Center at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “While we often think of the dangers of inactivity in terms of worsening cardiovascular health, there are a myriad of negative effects,” she says. The current study documented higher rates of type 2 diabetes, cancer, and cancer-related deaths in very sedentary people. An unrelated study has linked more sitting and less activity with an increased risk of developing dementia. [Read full article here]
An actual research on sitting,
Includes a profound Bibliograpgy
Due to the seriousness of this phenomenon, there is now a market to solve this. There are companies that specialize in solutions for officies to daily living furnitue at home to accomodate less sitting and healthier "lounging". This website is an excellent start for the current state of the art.
As a summary, the picture on the right, is excellent. Essentially, these are the three major categories avialable currently. At my office at work, I have an electric standing desk, while outside the office I use a standing desk converter from a Zest Desk.
Both of them are excellent. Yet they also have their limitations with respect to my needs. For example, my office desk is not portable. I can only use in the office. It is super heavy, and bulky. The desk converter is portable, and mobile (but could be lighter), but needs a surface to allow me to stand. At a park, at the airport, at a resturaunt, it is not always easy to find a surface.
Market Scan
Floor Sitting and Standing - and everything in between
I need a surface to be able to carry around, given my travel lifestyle, and yet be able to use it sitting on the floor, or standing up. I would laso like to use it with a chair when my body feels like it. Essentially it is an office in a suit case. It is designed with me in mind, as the main user.
I am still not sure about all the electronics it will use. I can imagine the table to use a telescoping system to extend and retract at the push of a button. As I am going through the FabAcademy, new ideas are coming to mind; for example a living bend etc. In the bening my idea was to lasercut the structure, but through out the weeks I am considering the possibility of molding or even 3D printing.
Possible electronics, could be a light, that adjusts the brightness using a light sensor. Also there is a product in the market called
Using MDF or ply wood will make it heavy. Being light but strudy is a major criteria for the success of this design.
