This chair begs for Dr Seuss’ involvement!
It’s a chair, it’s not a chair. Well it’s a kind of chair … it’s an invisible chair. It’s a chair that you wear! It’s the chair that really isn’t there.
Where’s My Chair?
The creation of this chair stems from inventor Keith Gunura’s background in a packaging factory. He was left standing for hours on end, really wanting to sit down but not having access to a chair.
He became acutely aware that people working in the production industry needed a chance to rest their legs occasionally. This wasn’t always possible in factories, due partly to lack of space.
This led him to play with the idea of strapping a chair to himself!
I’ll Bring My Own
Keith is now the co-founder of nonee, a company whose vision is to bring wearable chairs to the world!
The chairless chair is worn on your legs. Its aim is to act as an exoskeleton, fitting your body and not impeding action in any way. You can walk, or run, quite normally. It attaches to the hips by a belt, and is strapped around the thighs.
When you decide that you need to sit down, just click the button and the device turns into a chair. The chair that really isn’t there is now … there!
This isn’t the first time that someone has thought of this. Before the introduction of electronic milking, the Swiss used a one-legged milking stool that was secured to their bum by straps. This freed up their hands and allowed them to move from cow to cow without dragging their stool around.
The milking stool was more about convenience and saving time, as the milkers were going to be sitting down anyway.
The Chairless Chair, on the other hand, provides workers with an opportunity to sit down where before there was none. Its design also ensures good posture as the back is kept naturally straight.
Everyone Wins
There are lots of good reasons why the ability to take a seat while working in a production line, or similar environment, makes a lot of sense.
From the workers perspective, it’s a great way to relieve aching muscles and fatigue. Free from these problems, the worker is able to focus more on the work at hand rather than any physical discomfort.
From the employers perspective, there are a whole range of benefits to be gained by introducing the Chairless Chair!
- it can decrease fatigue, the number one reason for accidents in the workforce
- it can reduce employee injury from fatigue-related accidents and MSDs (Musculoskeletal disorders)
- less breaks are required as workers are having time to relax sore muscles as they work
- it can enable injured workers to get back to work earlier
- working conditions can be improved without the expensive overheads involved with increasing factory floor space. The Chairless Chair doesn’t require any more room.
And finally, from the government’s perspective, less work-related injuries and associated claims are a real positive!
The Chairless Chair addresses so many problems on so many different levels.
As the idea is developed further, we’re likely to see this incredible device making its way into more mainstream use.
