Friday, August 22, 2014

Swiss startup creates a wearable chair so you can rest anywhere

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.

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