For many people, maintaining the same posture for long periods of time, whether standing or sitting, is inappropriate. Standing for long periods of time, for example, can lead to increased pressure in the blood vessels, reduced blood flow and increasingly tense muscles, which can lead to pain, swelling or varicose veins in the legs and feet.
▲Image from: Long Island Spine Rehabilitation Medicine
However, there are many jobs where it's not easy to carry around a chair for resting, but it's not impossible to balance standing and sitting, so just think differently - put the chair on your body.
▲Image from: noonee
German company noonee has recently launched a new wearable chair, the 'Chairless Chair 2.0', which can be worn with variable dampers to support the wearer's weight, allowing them to 'sit in place' at any time and anywhere with just a slight bend in their knees, and adjusting to their desired height using an adjustment mechanism.
▲Image from: noonee
The overall weight of the Chairless Chair 2.0 unit is lighter than the first generation, which launched in 2014, but it's still slightly cumbersome, judging by the demo video of the wearer, which requires securing and attaching at the waist, thighs and waist respectively.
▲Image from: noonee
However, with the help of this wearable chair, it is equivalent to having a device that allows the body to quickly adapt to the ergonomic design. The wearer can switch between sitting, standing and walking to relax the spine, discs and knees, thus preventing damage to the body caused by holding the same position for long periods of time.
▲Image from: noonee
In fact, noonee's Chairless Chair 2.0 is an exoskeleton device. The original exoskeleton is a device used in military applications, which can integrate multiple systems while also increasing the speed of movement and therefore the ability to fight as a single soldier.
Exoskeletons have since emerged in the medical field to aid in the rehabilitation of patients or to assist people with mobility problems. The role of exoskeletons is also becoming more widespread in the industrial sector, where they help to make heavier work such as lifting easier, improving efficiency and protecting human health.
▲Image from: BusinessInsider
As you can see, the various exoskeletons are not all the same, such as the Cray X, a bionic exoskeleton from German Bionics that allows a person to lift and carry about 30 kg (66 lbs) of weight easily with the legs and back supported.
▲Image from: German Bionics
While their roles vary, these exoskeletons are actually designed to reduce the burden on the wearer's body, and while only about 5,000 exoskeletons were sold worldwide in 2015, they grew to about 8,100 in 2017, according to the growth of the exoskeleton market reported by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) in its annual World Robotics Study.The IFR predicts that by 2026, the market for skeletons will grow from $96 million per year in 2016 to approximately $6 billion per year.
▲Image from: noonee
There are those that improve combat capabilities, those that assist in walking, those that help carry heavy objects, and those like the Chairless Chair 2.0 that allow people to switch smoothly between sitting, standing and walking ...... It is thought that with the assistance of these exoskeletons, many areas of activity are likely to become easier in the future.