KLM airlines has launched a new “‘Economy Comfort zone in response to customer demands for greater comfort and more choice in Economy Class on intercontinental flights.” To publicize their new spaces on board (i.e. up to ten centimeters more legroom and back supports that can recline twice as far), they put a man sitting on what looks to be an invisible chair at the Manchester Airport. Agency of the Year X Country Winners Showcase Creativity Defined by Culture McCann New York Wins 2017 Super Clio for a “Genius” National Geographic Spot How Agency of the Year X Country Winners Find Inspiration In Global and Tech Trends How Havas CCO Jason Peterson Became the Advertising King of InstagramOver the last several years, office workers have begun to see the error of their sedentary ways. Study after study has shown that sitting down all day can contribute to a bunch of health problems, including diabetes and cancer. The solution: Stand up for part of the workday.
In some companies, nearly one-third of the workforce has adopted sit-and-stand workstations. Factory workers, on the other hand, have the opposite problem. Standing on an assembly line for hours puts undue stress on lower limbs, joints and the back. It can also exacerbate existing conditions, such as diseases of the heart. Yet at many factories, there’s not a chair in sight. Owners want to maximize space on the line and reduce clutter that might pose safety hazards, desires that leave little room for sitting. That’s why Zurich-based startup Noonee has developed the Chairless Chair, a wearable armature that provides workers with a place to perch—no matter where they are. Keith Gunura, Noonee CEO and co-founder, first had the idea for an exoskeleton-type chair when he was 17 and working on a production line in a factory in the U.K. “We wanted the ability to sit anywhere and everywhere,” he recalls. The Chairless Chair consists of a thin aluminum armature attached to the user’s shoes and waist.
Wearers first clip on a belt, which contains the control module, then attach a strap onto the heel of their shoes (any heel a quarter-inch or larger will do). They tighten straps around their upper and lower legs and adjust the length of the aluminum frames to match the length of their calves and thighs. When looking to sit, a worker bends his or her knees and presses a button on the control unit to lock the chair into place. A damper that extends from the knee to the heel provides the support. The system can hold up to 400 pounds and can lock in anywhere through the knee’s range of motion. Gunura says the best position is a perch, not unlike sitting on a barstool—an ideal posture because it keeps the wearer’s back straight. If you try to lean back, you’ll throw off your center of gravity and tip over. The current Chairless Chair prototype weighs 4.4 pounds. Users can walk, even run, normally with the unit tied on. But, Gunura says the final version will be even lighter.
Gunura estimates that it will be three to five years before the Chairless Chair becomes a fixture in factories, but the company is gearing up for a robust set of trials in facilities across Europe and the U.K. that will begin within the next year. According to CNN, BMW and Audi will be among the first factories with the device. The company has not set a price yet, but says it will be affordable. Noonee says that factory owners it’s been in contact with—the startup is not currently able to call their partners by name—see the productivity benefit of allowing their workers to take short rests during the workday. “We don’t want to promote long-term sitting; what you want are micro breaks,” says Gunura. Once the professional rollout is underway, the company will begin adapting its technology to other fields, including medicine and rehabilitation, and eventually develop a consumer-friendly version. “We’ve had interest from surgeons saying that they want to try this as a substitute for their stool, which is something they normally have to move quite a lot,” Gunura explains.
Unlike other exoskeleton devices, the Chairless Chair does not imbue the wearer with extra strength or capabilities he or she might not otherwise have. Devices like the TitanArm, Gunura contends, could actually make the wearer weaker over time, as he or she progressively relies more and more on the mechanical assistance. “That’s the trade-off,” he says. As for a layperson device, Gunura is fixated on making the Chairless Chair look as little like a rehab device or exosuit as possible. “We want to make it invisible, so that you can take it anywhere you want,” he imagines. “It could be embedded in your jeans.” Der Chairless Chair schafft attraktive, ergonomisch gestaltete Arbeitsplätze. Bequemes Arbeiten in stehenden Tätigkeiten Flexibler Wechsel zwischen Sitzen, Stehen und Gehen Anpassung an Schuh- und Körpergröße Senkung der physischen Arbeitsbelastung Nachhaltiger Arbeitskomfort bis ins hohe Alter Beitrag zur Produktivitäts- und Qualitätssteigerung
Längere Einsatzfähigkeit leistungsgewandelterMitarbeiter durch altersstabile Arbeitsplätze noonee ist weltweit der erste Anbieter von Wearable Ergonomic Mechatronic Devices (WEMDs). Dies sind tragbare, mechatronische Exoskelette. Unternehmen schaffen damit altersgerechte, ergonomisch gestaltete Arbeitsplätze. noonee wurde 2014 in der Schweiz gegründet. Im Juli 2016 entstand noonee Germany GmbH mit dem Ziel das Produkt weltweit auszurollen. Der Chairless Chair wurde durch kontinuierlichen Austausch mit Nutzern entwickelt. Intl. Vertrieb & Marketing +49 - 7153 - 4358450 +41 - 55 260 10 10The Stool 60 Giveaway. Sign up for our emails and a chance to win this ingenious stackable stool.A mainland tourist was beaten up after allegedly being caught cheating at mahjong by local players, according to police. The man was accused by fellow players of using special contact lenses to see marks made in invisible ink on the tiles – a scam made famous by the 1989 film God of Gamblers, starring Chow Yun-fat.
Crime-squad officers are investigating whether the 37-year-old, surnamed Zeng, had accomplices to help him with the ruse. The mainlander was assaulted when he was playing mahjong with three local villagers in a Fan Tin Tsuen grocery off Castle Peak Road in Lok Ma Chau at about 10.15pm on Monday. Chinese conmen used spy cameras to steal 120 million yuan from rich mahjong players: court According to police, he was accused of cheating during the games before he was beaten and hit with a chair. The victim received head and shoulder injuries in the incident, a police spokesman said. He was discharged from North District Hospital after treatment. Officers arrested two male villagers aged 30 and 58 in connection with the attack. Before lunchtime on Tuesday, officers went to the grocery and seized two sets of mahjong tiles for inspection. “Initial investigations showed some marked tiles were found in the two sets of mahjong, but no contact lenses or spectacles [used to see the invisible marks] were found,” a source with the knowledge of the investigation said.