Chair with "sense" measures sitting posture.

• Position: Your Life - Brief Article

Engineers at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., have developed a "sensing chair" that can determine a person's sitting posture. Their research could lead to numerous applications, ranging from computer-security systems to the design of more-comfortable furniture.

The modified office chair uses software algorithms, or computer instructions, that interpret information collected by an array of pressure sensors in the backrest and seat. When tested on 30 individuals, the chair demonstrated an overall accuracy of 96% in determining whether they were slouching, leaning in various positions, crossing their legs, or sitting upright.

"The chair senses how the pressure is distributed in the seat and the backrest," explains Hong Tan, an assistant professor in Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "We train the computer to recognize pressure patterns associated with different seating postures by showing the computer examples of such patterns."

Special software enables a computer to interpret a person's posture by analyzing pressure patterns, which are represented by thousands of numbers fed to the...