Clunes - Remodelling your living body

Clūnēs is a new kind of activity tracker – a smart chair that follows your motion throughout the day.
Have you heard the latest? Sitting is the new smoking. Wearable fitness trackers try to break this pattern of our unhealthy lifestyle. Liliana and myself wondered whether the way that fitness trackers portray information and provoke exercise is enough to keep us from sitting?
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT FACE
Therefore, we looked into different ways how an everyday object could represent and receive information. Using the chair as an object for encouraging movement felt like the right medium to do so, since it is the chair that reinforces our sedentary behaviour. At the same time, people are relying on personal smart devices to keep track of movement and to improve their health. Yet, it’s questionable if wearable’s can lead to sustainable health gains. Studies have shown that these are not objects we feel committed to in the long run. There is a honeymoon period between the user and the wearable. When it wears off frustrations and forgotten wearables add up. 

THE CONCEPT
Clūnēs fills this gap and provides a union of smart technology paired with a subtle real object behaviour. The chair was modified to have a feedback function that shows the user the state of their daily health goal. It is set up using the Health App on the iPhone. Consequently, could the behavior of a chair that reflects your health goals influence your perception and use of the seating object?

FUTURE ASPIRATIONS
We consider integrating Clūnēs into the workspace. By including a reward function, the chair could create healthful effects at a systems level. Having Clūnēs in the workspace they envision that colleagues will encourage and motivate each other to be more active. Overall people find it very special that their product plays around the idea that an object is not just static – it becomes a companion in your everyday life.