Ease into the correct
seat position: with the new seat model, a few hand gestures
at the side panel are
all you need. © Isringhausen GmbH
(August 4, 2015) A
multitude of professional drivers suffer from back problems. One cause: driver
seats that are inadequately adjusted to each driver‘s ergonomic needs.
Fraunhofer‘s researchers, in joint collaboration with Isringhausen GmbH &
Co. KG, engineered a driver‘s seat whose shape and position can be adjusted by
using simple hand gestures.
Sitting for hours on end with little movement: it‘s part of
everyday working life for the professional driver. On average, they spend nine
hours a day in the vehicle cabin. As a result, at some point a number of
drivers develop problems with their back. In study after study, statutory
health insurance was able to demonstrate that a driver‘s seat that is adjusted
to the person at the wheel in terms of shape and position, can be an effective
countermeasure to back pain. 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.
A new, intuitive operating design should change all this.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, in
collaboration with Isringhausen GmbH & Co. KG., have engineered a driver‘s
seat that can be calibrated intuitively through gestures. „To accomplish this,
we use a sensor-based gesture control system in the driver‘s seat,“ explains
Johannes Ehrlich of the Center for Smart Materials (CeSMa) at Fraunhofer ISC.
„With the aid of simple hand gestures, the driver can move the seat forward and
back, as well as up and down. In addition, he or she can also custom-set the
incline of the thigh support and back rest in the same manner.“