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Health & Wellbeing

Standing Task Chair helps you sit and stand at the same time

By Dave Parrack
June 07, 2013
Standing Task Chair helps you sit and stand at the same time
The Standing Task Chair is designed to take the pressure off while you use a standing desk
The Standing Task Chair is designed to take the pressure off while you use a standing desk
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The Standing Task Chair is designed to take the pressure off while you use a standing desk
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The Standing Task Chair is designed to take the pressure off while you use a standing desk
The Standing Task Chair as designed on paper and produced for real
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The Standing Task Chair as designed on paper and produced for real
A diagram showing how Standing Task Chair is purported to help distribute your weight more evenly
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A diagram showing how Standing Task Chair is purported to help distribute your weight more evenly
The Standing Task Chair is portable, with two small wheels activated by lifting the seat
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The Standing Task Chair is portable, with two small wheels activated by lifting the seat
The Standing Task Chair enables you to stand comfortably at any high work surface
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The Standing Task Chair enables you to stand comfortably at any high work surface
The Standing task Chair helps you adopt and maintain the standing meditation pose normally seen in yoga
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The Standing task Chair helps you adopt and maintain the standing meditation pose normally seen in yoga
The Standing Task Chair is adjustable, with the gas cylinder seat changing the sitting posion
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The Standing Task Chair is adjustable, with the gas cylinder seat changing the sitting posion
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There has been a trend of late towards standing desks, borne out of the very real notion that sitting down for long periods of time is bad for your health. The problem is that standing desks don't suit everyone, and can in fact cause bad backs, sore feet, and varicose veins if not used correctly. One solution may be to aim for somewhere betwixt sitting and standing, which is where the Standing Task Chair may prove its worth.

The Standing Task Chair is a chair that encourages you to adopt and maintain an ergonomic working position. Designed to be used with standing desks such as XTable, the chair supports your body while it's in a standing position, with the shape it encourages being something akin to the standing meditation pose seen in yoga. It shares some similarities – and raison d'etre – with the Focal Locus workstation.

Your body is supported in three ways: the seat (which looks like an oversized bicycle seat) takes the pressure off your legs, the pressure on your knees is relieved by a cushioned pad, and your feet are kept in an angled position by a raised platform. The creators of the Standing Task Chair claim this combination helps distribute your weight evenly.

The Standing Task Chair is adjustable, with the gas cylinder seat changing the sitting posion
The Standing Task Chair is adjustable, with the gas cylinder seat changing the sitting posion

The seat is fully adjustable via the gas cylinder most office chairs use, and it also pivots at the floor allowing the user to twist and turn as needed. The Standing Task Chair is portable, featuring small wheels at the front which are activated by lifting the whole thing up by the seat.

There are two options available in terms of materials used, with one frame made from solid oak and another made from welded steel. Both feature a knee pad made from high density foam and a seat made from contoured gel.

The Standing Task Chair is portable, with two small wheels activated by lifting the seat
The Standing Task Chair is portable, with two small wheels activated by lifting the seat

The Standing Task Chair is currently on Kickstarter, with funding of US$40,000 sought. This money will be used for tooling and for completing the first production run. Early backers can get a single Standing Task Chair for $499 (steel frame) or $599 (oak frame). The retail prices have been set at $699 and $799 respectively. US shipping is included, with international shipping calculated separately.

The video below shows the creator of the Standing Task Chair explaining the thinking behind the design and demonstrating how it's meant to be used.

Source: Kickstarter

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Tags

Health & WellbeingErgonomicChairOfficeKickstarter
15 comments
Dave Parrack
Dave is a technology journalist with a ravenous appetite for gadgets, gizmos, and gubbins. He's based in the UK, and from his center of operations writes about all facets of modern and future technology. He has learned more in his five years writing for the Web than he did in 11 years at school, and with none of the boring subjects thrown in to the mix.

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15 comments
Chuck Anziulewicz
This doesn't exactly seem like a new idea. Some people may remember THESE "ergonomic" chairs from decades ago: http://www.interiorwarrior.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Ergonomic-chair.-models-and-prices2.jpg
mooseman
Yeesh, this looks *uncomfortable*!
I think I'll stick with my good old standard office chair that I can slouch in...... :)
nehopsa
This is actually quite good. Sitting long time really IS a problem. Watch the video: the inventor addresses a real problem of his...and likely of many other people also. (I was developing my own hight adjustable computer stand: sitting/standing/laying at the computer monitor at a whim. Gizmag was writing about "emperor" workstation for a different effort taking on issue of monitors) (http://www.gizmag.com/emperor-1510-workstation-mwe/21412/ Ed.). This chair seems to fit the project perfectly. ...or perhaps some more advanced body-copying robotic servo motor design one day.There are robotic furniture projects going.
I know of the older version of the sitting/kneeling chair. I have it ...and do not use it that often. The innovation in this project is it is much higher. The piston's on the fly hight adjust-ability and free movement around is another difference: with the old seat you were just fixed into a position. With this one you can "fly around". This can make for the critical difference.
Yes, you will go back to your classical chair. The sitting is not bad as such - it is prolonged uninterrupted inactivity that is killing in it. Changing between chairs and interrupting "sitting pattern" should help. The risks of sitting are real.
Nick Farsley
Why does that guy from accounting always standing around looking like he has a stick in his @$$?
Ralf Biernacki
The price will kill it, as surely as it killed other similar designs in the past. This idea will not take off until it is priced as much as an ordinary no-frills office chair. These ergonomic inventors all repeat the same error, let's call it "naive greed": they seem to think that the way to get rich is to gouge the market the highest price (they think) that it will stand. The reality is that to actually corner the market, you sell a cheap product at large volume. While there are some types of product that do behave differently, gadgets like these can safely be assumed to have a highly elastic demand, i.e. will behave as above. Think of any gadget you remember that swept the market by storm; the common factor was the low price, wasn't it?
David Clarke
I think the main purpose of this chair is to lighten your wallet. It is incredibly expensive compared with a normal office chair. The real answer is to get up and have a walk round every half hour or so. I'm sure that would be permitted. Just have a timer on your desk to remind you. This is a much cheaper solution, and gets the blood circulating better. Who wants to work all day sitting on a bicycle saddle? (Unless of course you're a cycle courier)
Stephen N Russell
Must for warehouses (non automated), offices, auto repair, aviation repair, retail, etc venues. Nice design, Id have stand retract onto tube for carrying chair.
Michael Scharna
In Europa you find thuch many years a simulary system called "Sattelstuhl". Very efective, very saludable and much le$$!
VirtualGathis
I think this completely misses the point of the studies regarding sitting for prolonged periods. It also looks about as comfortable as an airline cattle class seat.
The issue isn't sitting, as the article states standing for prolonged periods also causes it's own issues. The problem is that the human body is meant to move, at least some of the time. That means that any activity that involves remaining motionless for extended periods of time will have long term repercussions. Rather than wasting money to buy these chimera chair/bicycle seat/stool things a company would be better off designing a work day that required desk bound personnel to move around at least ten minutes of every hour, rather than the two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch model that is so polular. It would improve end of day productivity as well because keeping the blood from stagnating in the extremeties also boosts brain function.
Captain Obvious
Oh yeah, an ergonomic chair. Try a garage sale. I have one in the cellar I got years ago.
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