Posture Monitoring and Corrective Seat Cover
Engineering
ECE129
Students and white-collar working individuals in modern society spend most of their day sitting down on a chair, focused on their work and duties. In this state, most individuals pay little to no attention to maintaining a healthy posture. In our survey of 138 individuals, we found that 48% of respondents rated their sitting posture as “poor” and 49% sit for more than 6 hours a day.
Improper posture alignment leads to various levels of back pain, muscle and ligament misalignment, irregular cardiac electrical impulses, long term injuries such as kyphosis, and ultimately can require high-risk surgical operations. Additionally, studies have shown strong correlations between posture alignment and mental and psychological states.
This project is aimed at improving postural habits and preventing posture-related injuries and effects. We built a consumer electronic product, Posture Monitoring, and Corrective Seat Cover, that alerts its users if their posture deviates from a healthy standard when seated. The seat cover contains a multiplex of capacitive proximity, ultrasonic and force sensors, with the aim of evaluating the user’s posture with sufficient coverage of their body from their neck to their thighs, and alerting them when their posture is improper. A smartphone app communicating with the device is implemented to deliver immediate notifications, graphical representation of the user’s posture, progress tracking, and trend charts, and customizable settings. Considering our goal of improving the user’s postural habits, our device is capable of training the user by tracking their progress over time and providing feedback accordingly.
