A Sensing Chair

The sensingChair introduces a seat that feels its occupant through a layer of "artificial skin." Pressure sensing is accomplished with two commercially-available pressure-distribution sensor sheets from TekScan Incorporated. As a new input device, the sensingChair opens up new opportunities for human-computer interactions. This is demonstrated in three scenarios (Launch Video (Real Player Format)).

Scenario 1 provides a visualization of sitting pressure map. As a person moves in the chair, the changing pressure distribution is visualized as terrain with picture, plain terrain profile, and as input for a dynamic image mixing/painting application.

Scenario 2 demonstrates our automatic sitting posture classification algorithm. This PCA-based Static Posture Classification system can recognize an occupant's sitting posture in real time. The system then selects an image that shows a person sitting in the corresponding posture.

Scenario 3 illustrates how the sensingChair can be used as an input device for computer games. By leaning and shifting weight in a chair, a user can intuitively use his body to control the direction and speed of a virtual car.



Media


http :// www . purdue . edu / UNS / html 4 ever / 001103 . Tan . smartchair . html

http :// www . sciencedaily . com / releases / 2000 / 11 / 001103071739 . htm
http :// www . wired . com / news / business / 0 , 1367 , 46192 , 00 . html
http :// www . sciencenews . org / articles / 20001118 / fob 8 ref . asp
http :// www . findarticles . com / p / articles / mi_m 1272 / is_ 2682 _ 130 / ai_ 84184854

 

Project Publications

Manli Zhu, Aleix M. Martinez and Hong Z. Tan, "Template-based recognition of static sitting postures," Proceedings of The Workshop on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition for Human Computer Interaction, held at the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR03), IEEE Computer Society, Madison, Wisconsin, June 17, 6 pp., 2003. PDF (376KB)

Hong Z. Tan, David S. Ebert, XiaoDong Li, Lynne A. Slivovsky, Nikolai Svakhine, and John Leimgruber III, "sensingChair," Emerging Technologies, SIGGRAPH2001, Los Angeles, CA, Aug. 12-17, 2001. (One of 23 juried interactive exhibitions showcasing the most promising technological inventions.)

Hong Z. Tan, David S. Ebert, Lynne A. Slivovsky, Nikolai Svakhine, and John Leimgruber III, "sensingChair," In SIGGRAPH 2002 Conference Abstracts and Applications, Los Angeles, CA, Aug. 12-17, p. 135, 2001. PDF (147KB)

Hong Z. Tan, Lynne A. Slivovsky, and Alex Pentland, "A sensing chair using pressure distribution sensors," IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 261-268, 2001. PDF (151KB)

Hong Z. Tan, Alex Pentland, and Lynne A. Slivovsky, "Sensing Chair and Floor Using Distributed Contact Sensors," In Sensors in Intelligent Buildings, edited by O. Gassmann and H. Meixner, Weinheim, Germany: WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, pp. 293-304 (Chap. 3.4), 2001. PDF (1060KB)

Lynne A. Slivovsky and Hong Z. Tan, "A real-time sitting posture tracking system," Purdue University, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Technical Report No. TR-ECE 00-1, Jan. 2000, 82 pp.

Lynne A. Slivovsky and Hong Z. Tan, "A real-time static posture classification system," In Proceedings of the Ninth (9th) International Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dynamic Systems and Control Division, Vol. 69-2, S. S. Nair (Ed.), Orlando, FL, pp. 1049-1056, 2000. PDF (2.4MB)

Hong Z. Tan, "A sensing chair," In Proceedings of the Eighth (8th) International Symposium on Haptic Interfaces for Virtual Environment and Teleoperator Systems, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dynamic Systems and Control Division, Vol. 67, Nashville, TN, pp. 313-317, 1999.


Hong Z. Tan, Ifung Lu, and Alex Pentland, "The chair as a novel haptic user interface," In Proceedings of the Workshop on Perceptual User Interfaces, Oct. 19-21, Banff, Alberta, Canada, pp. 56-57, 1997.