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How About Car Seats that You Control With Gestures?

Scientists from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research and Isringhausen have recently announced the completion of a prototype seat that can be adjusted by using simple hand gestures. It may seem like one of those luxury features high-end limousines come with. In fact, the team’s aim is to help professional drivers with their back pain.
Scientists from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research and Isringhausen have recently announced the completion of a prototype seat that can be adjusted by using simple hand gestures 1 photo
Photo: http://www.fraunhofer.de/
We’re sure that you too faced that discomfort of trying to adjust the car’s seat to your body, making it nice and cozy. Most of us give up eventually, after all it’s not like we’re going to spend the day on that seat. Some professions out there, however, imply people are spending an average of nine hours on these rather uncomfortable chairs. Not only is it causing a state of ailment, but researchers have found it can lead to back pain and even dangerous conditions.

Certainly the majority of truck seats possess a wide selection of seat position options – yet the majority of drivers use them only sporadically, since operation is complicated and there often is not enough time for a correct setting,” details the German team.

That is why engineers have created a driver’s seat that can be calibrated intuitively through gestures. There is a sensor-based gesture control system that makes it possible. You just flip your hand and move the seat forward and back, as well as up and down. Also, he or she can custom-set the inclined of the high support and back rest in the same manner.

It may all seem a little too vague, but the process is, in fact, quite simple. The scientists have integrated various sensors into the synthetic side cover so that the seat reacts to the driver’s hand motions. They’re called piezo sensors and they respond to pressure.

Here’s a detailed explanation:

“To do so, the user has to press briefly a certain point on the side cover. This way we prevent the motion control from being accidentally triggered. Besides, the seat position can be stored through this point by pressing several times”.

As we said, there’s a functional prototype already available and according to the source, it will be unveiled at the Frankfurt International Motor Show.
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