Combining Automobile Seats with the IoT: Proposing New Possibilities for Seating
Combining Automobile Seats with the IoT: Proposing New Possibilities for Seating
With the Aisareru Seat®, which was created using technology and expertise accumulated over many years of automobile seat development, we aim to propose new possibilities for seating.
This seat is imbued with our strong desire to make people and society happy.
Proposing New Possibilities for Seating
The Aisareru Seat® is a system that uses the seat as a controller and combines the automobile seat sensing technology that we have cultivated over many years with IoT technology. This system makes it possible to visualize the movements of seated passengers using apps and cloud computing, and it can be used not only to offer new ways to spend time in next-generation passenger spaces—including wellness content that trains the body’s dynamic muscular strength and sports that can be enjoyed by everyone, including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities—but also in a wide range of areas such as sports and healthcare.
A seat demonstration venue overflowing with smiles
A range of apps provides endless ways to enjoy the Aisareru Seat®. We are exhibiting the seat at various events to show its range of possibilities.
One example of this is “Kankyuso” (“Slow/Fast Running”), which was unveiled at Yuru Sports Land 2019. This is a type of “yuru sports,” a new type of sport that anyone can enjoy regardless of age, gender, or athletic ability, made in collaboration with the World Yuru Sports Association. In this sport, a virtual player in an app runs in conjunction with the detected movements of a seated person. During development, we sought to create a virtual sport that could be enjoyed by anyone, and the “Beyond Girls,” a dynamic trio of women in wheelchairs, participated in many of our trials. We co-created the sport with them while asking questions such as “Could they enjoy a sport even while sitting?” and “Could women in wheelchairs compete with athletic men and win?”
Everyone who tried it at the event enjoyed themselves and couldn’t help but smile.
In the future, we will continue to actively participate in events and exhibitions to raise the profile of this system.
New value from products born from a core vision
The development of the Aisareru Seat® began with a new value creation project comprised of members from various departments within the company. This project was conducted using “design-driven innovation*,” which differs from problem-solving innovation in that it is aimed at proposing new meaning for products.
The project searched for keywords necessary for the society of the future via a wide range of academic studies and discussions with experts. Then, to share the members’ various impressions, it established a vision, part of which states that “TS TECH products are a form of media that bring people together and provide happiness to individuals, families, society, and the environment.”
The Aisareru Seat® was born as a result of each member working on development while considering global, domestic, and foreign issues as their own problems and always thinking from the company president's perspective about how resources can be used to make society better.
Although the system is still evolving and incomplete, we will explain to our stakeholders in detail the usage situations derived from our vision. As more and more communities want to help us create and expand its benefits, we believe this will lead to new business and contribute to corporate growth. The Aisareru Seat® is a platform to help achieve this.
- Design-driven innovation: A concept proposed by Professor Roberto Verganti of Italy’s Polytechnic University of Milan which refers to innovation created by giving new meaning to a product
Project Leader, Product Development Department