This week was about my final project. For this there were questions, which should be answered in advance.
I want to optimize my daily work and this also includes the topic of sitting. Some days I sit on an office chair for more than 12 hours, a lot of time on a not so comfortable chair. If you extrapolate that, we spend 230 working days a year on one chair in a 5-day week after subtracting vacation and holidays. If we have a job that requires it. That’s the equivalent of 1840 hours, which is quite a lot. In this context, the office chair is an important everyday object which is used intensively and which, despite the digital age, is still analogue and thus harbours an undeveloped potential. So my goal is to build a smart and individualized chair as my final project.
I would like to address two key aspects here: On the one hand, new digital manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing and 3D scanning make it possible to create individually adapted seats and products. This makes it possible to distribute pressure forces in a balanced way and to avoid pressure points.
If you think about the whole topic around 3D scanning and 3D printing, you are quickly faced with the thought experiment of changes regarding new value chains through local and low-emission production. Social added value through the combination of local production and direct end customer feedback on the product through individualisation promise to create a positive synergy effect that underlines the sustainability and relevance of the issue.
On the other hand, the world is becoming more digital and networked. The so-called Internet of Things must be seen as an opportunity that can support our perception, information reception and processing. It can support us in our everyday lives and make recommendations for action, thus in the form of Extended Intelligence. Pressure sensors should record the sitting behaviour and generate measured values which are later converted into patterns. I would also like to integrate the pomodoro technique directly into my chair and give feedback via vibration motors. An OLED display should show the counter.
In the Fab Academy there have already been many projects with different ideas. After I had my idea and a few weeks passed, I could still find similar projects. Two people have already got to work on the chair. Nevertheless, I did not find anyone who addressed the topic of individualization and pressure mapping as I intended.
I don’t want to redesign the whole chair. I would rather focus on the seat and the other additional functions. These include the fitted seat, the housing of electronics, the implementation of the pressure sensors and the integration of the display into the armrest.
As materials I will probably use PLA or ABS as well as conductive filament based on PLA. Additionally acrylic or poplar wood is needed. Fabric for the seat as well as foam for a light upholstery.
Most components, materials, etc. are already on site. Everything else is either ordered via Mouser (delivery within two days) or purchased locally from the dealer. The fabric as well as the foam are bought locally at the specialized trade.
| Name | Price |
|---|---|
| PLA Filament | 3 x 19,99 € |
| Conductive Filament | 68,90 € |
| Acrylic glass & Poplar wood | 12,00 € |
| Electronics like ESP32 Wroom, sd-card reader, OLED-display, resistors and so on | 15,00 € |
| Textiles | 4,00 € |
| Total | 159,87 € |
Both the seat and the electronics themselves are designed. I also design the implementation of the pressure mapping system, the integration of the pomodoro technique and the control itself.
2D and 3D design, additive and subtractive manufacturing processes, electronics design and production, embedded microcontrollers, interface and programming, system integration and packaging are used. That’s very probably the technology used:
Further questions that came to my mind and which I would like to clarify for myself after the project: