Altwork Station (Photo : Twitter)
For people who worked all day sitting down at a desk job there is now an ergonomic alternative to traditional or standing desks in offices and homes, known as the Altwork Station. It is a $5,900 combo workstation that lets users do computer work while standing on their feet, sitting in a chair, or lying down like on a bed. The convertible desk keeps the monitor hanging above their head, and the keyboard and mouse in place.
The early bird price is a little lower at $3,900. While the price tag is high, the workstation has a unique and innovative design that took five years to develop.
Altwork is a big mechanized chair that features lots of head support, an attached swiveling desk, and a second screen-holding arm. Users can also keep working if they want to stand up. The workstation includes a desktop extension and lets them stretch their legs.
Che Voigt is Altwork's founder and CEO. He explained that the lie-down workstation had not been invented due to the bold move of hanging a 27-inch monitor above the worker's head.
A big design challenge was choosing a way to keep the keyboard, mouse, and mousepad from falling down onto the reclining user. Magnets do that now.
The invention's idea originated when Voigt's business partner John Speicher was unable to sit down at a computer due to a back injury. Thus, he started designing a reclining system.
Altwork is a unique mechanized chair, bed, and desk combo that is unique. Most of the competition to its lie-down workstation is from La-Z-Boy chairs with a desk and CPU attached, according to Wired.
There are also issues with other alternatives to traditional sit-down workstations. Standing desks cause foot pain, while treadmill desks are expensive and not substitutes for real exercise, according to CNN.
