Your future office desk may remind you, hey, to move it

Workers in all industries know by now that having a "desk" job might have its perks but frequent exercise is not one of them. Ample warnings from health experts have been headlined in the press reminding workers that in their typical work days, their muscles may be burning less fat and blood flowing more sluggishly while they stay rooted in their chairs. Small wonder that technology futurists are pointing to the potential in technology solutions that can be seamlessly built into the physical world with "smart" furniture that supports physical fitness. One new star performer is a company called StirWorks.

They make an interactive desk that they say can enhance the sitting experience. The piece of furniture is called The Stir Kinetic Desk. The height-adjustable desk senses your presence, moves from sitting to standing, and quantifies health benefits of doing that, in how much calories you burn by standing more. The desk interacts with you throughout the day to invite and remind you to move. The desk is promoted as an item that "learns, quantifies, breathes."

The company CEO, JP Labrosse, in a video interview with Forbes' Miguel Helft, San Francisco bureau chief, said the desk based on your preferences will invite you to move in a way that solves the problem of interaction without interruption, which, he said, is so important when we think about technology, something that can be built into the physical world around us without undue intrusions. Delft in Forbes detailed how the gentle suggestions to get moving work: To remind a user to change position, "the Stir Kinetic Desk takes a "whisper breath" – it rises and falls one inch over about six seconds. The motion will get your attention but is gentle enough not to disrupt your work. With a swipe or tap on the touch-screen, you can choose to change position or stay put."

But what's the need for all these electronics, Helft asked Labrosse. Can't we simply have an adjustable desk that we can move up and down? Labrosse said, "Based on some research we did, we found that 70 percent of people with adjustable-height desks were spending all the time in the seated position." He said his desk changed that amount. He said "95 percent of our customers change positions every day and they spend about 50 percent of the time standing and 50 percent of the time sitting, and that's a wonderful balance."

Helft also asked, but can't you just accomplish the same with a little app that says, hey, it's time to adjust the height of your desk? Labrosse answered from an "engagement design perspective." He said, "putting things in people's phones? They forget about them." Instead, information appears at the user's fingertips, and there is engagement: the desk itself reminds you to move in a tactile way, and in turn can transform how much people actually use it. The company's new Stir Kinetic Desk M1 has just launched and it is the second desk design that they have created. The earlier introduction was a higher-priced Stir Kinetic Desk F1. The M1 model "is designed to be assembled by you and a friend," said the site. Tools are included. It can be put together using eight screws and a single hex wrench. Assembly should take about 30 minutes, according to the company site. The desk is priced at $2,990.(The flagship $4,190 F1 is delivered with "white glove assembly. From time of arrival to departure, the team will be with you for about one hour. They will unpack and assemble your desk, and remove the refuse unless you wish to keep it.")

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