This is kind of a wacky item. The BBC reports that Shinya Matsuyama and his colleagues from the Studio Mongoose design company have designed a set of table and chairs that interacts with their users. Namely, the chairs will change their colors.
Sensors in the table will detect the colors of items placed on it. A computer embedded in the table sends wireless signals to the chairs, which will then match that color. The heavier the person sitting on a chair, the darker the shade of the chair.
Personally, I think the concept is pretty cool, although I cannot really see something catching on that betrays the user’s weight like this. Of course these chicks aren’t too heavy-weight…
The set was shown at Siggraph 2007 and doesn’t seem to be commercially available yet. However, Inventorspot reports that they are available for between 179000 and 417000 Yen (1110 to 2587 Euro) from Proto-Type Inc. in Tokyo.
(Via the BBC, photos via Inventorspot.)
