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Our sedentary lifestyles today put us at risk for countless health complications such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, to name a few.
The Pressure-Sensing Smart Chair aims to stop the problem at its source. The pressure-sensitive seat of the chair vibrates after a predetermined number of minutes, signaling to the user to get up for a break. The smart chair is a premium solution for our times, designed to marry form, function, and of course, storage.
So how does it work? The smart chair combines a sleek stainless steel exterior and an ABS plastic box containing a pressure sensor, Arduino Uno, and vibration motor.
You also may have noticed four "feet" under the hollow chair body. These feet are filleted to reduce stress concentrations, and interference-fitted onto the chair body.
Let's get a closer look at that ABS plastic box...
Here's the box with the lip so it can be ultrasonically welded onto the metal chair body.
Getting closer, without the box...
And here's the side view of the Arduino, pressure sensor, and vibration motor on the underside of the seat, without the box and its lip. Visit the Week 8 page for a more detailed view.
Of course, this is only a concept chair. It would benefit from upholstery and prototyping. But there's much more to see about the process of designing this chair for manufacturing. Check out the week-by-week journey in the deliverables tab and learn more about how I chose materials, manufacturing methods, tolerances, and more!
Weekly Lecture Topics
Week 1&2: Ideation and User Research
Week 3: Materials Science 101
Week 4: Manufacturing Methods
Week 5: Injection Molding
Week 6: Product Design Features
Week 7: Design for Manufacturing, Design for Assembly
Week 8: Teardown
Week 9: Analysis and Reliability
Week 10: Program Wrap-Up
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