A Smart Chair for Health Monitoring in Daily Life

TL;DR

This paper introduces a smart chair system that monitors sitting posture and heart rate in real-time, using embedded sensors and machine learning, to promote healthier sitting habits especially for office workers.

Contribution

It presents a novel integrated device combining pressure sensors and PPG modules with machine learning for accurate posture and heart rate monitoring.

Findings

Achieved 99% accuracy in posture classification.

Demonstrated real-time display of posture and heart rate on external devices.

Validated ECG module against commercial devices.

Abstract

Recent research has focused on the risks associated with poor sitting posture and the impact of sitting on biological parameters, such as heart rate because prolonged sitting is common across all ages and professions. In this work, we propose a novel approach that can display simultaneously posture and heart rate in real-time. In this device, pressure sensors are embedded into a flexible separate cushion easily put on any chair to provide sitting behaviours and a smartwatch-like PPG module is worn on the user's wrist. Regarding posture classification, pressure figures of ten pressure sensors under the seat bottom are inputs of four machine learning models, giving a high accuracy of 99 per cent. Besides, the Electrocardiography recording module is illustrated with the same results as a commercial device called DFRobot. Another advantage of this smart chair is that it not only simultaneously displays both sitting postures and heart rates on external devices like laptops, mobile phones, or televisions through microcontrollers but also offers the relationship between them to help people adjust their sitting behaviours, avoiding influencing heart rate. The smart chair is expected to be useful equipment for people with a sedentary lifestyle, especially office workers.