Abstract
This paper is concerned with how objects in an environment can be made aware of people via haptic sensing. It was motivated by the desire to make our environment “smarter” by providing it with sensory systems similar to our own. The work reported here focuses on an object that is involved in virtually all human-computer interactions, yet has remained sensory-deprived — the chair. A real-time sitting posture classification system has been developed using surface-mounted pressure sensors placed on the seatpan and backrest of a chair. The ultimate goal of this work is to build a robust multi-user sitting-posture tracking system that will have many applications including ergonomics and automatic control of airbag deployment in a car. Challenges for reaching the goal and plans of nature work are discussed.
