We spend a lot of time sitting in a chair in the office, at home, and in a car. Current, existing chairs are passive objects that need to be adjusted by the user instead of automatically adapting to the user's needs. The goals of the augmented smart chair project are to build a smart chair by making it aware of the user's activities (posture, movement, and "sitting habits") and to augment it with feedback mechanisms that assist the user in a friendly manner. Everybody deserves a good chair. The augmented smart chair project will address issues such as posture recognition, objective assessment of user comfort, and design of tactile stimulation patterns. We want to make the chair comfortable and visually stunning as well. The potential for smart chair technology is boundless. Possible interactions with other smart technologies that the Media Lab is currently developing, such as smart desks, smart rooms, and smart clothes may provide new levels of convenience and utility that may redefine what we consider as necessary aids. This project is an important step in the Media Lab's goal towards producing "Things That Think." Are you interested in finding out more? Then send email to Hong Tan, hongtan@media.mit.edu. Web site maintained by Ifung Lu, ilu@media.mit.edu. This page was last updated on Thursday, October 3, 1996.