PostureCoach is an innovative AI-enabled cloud-based platform that tackles the issue of 'poor posture' with a personalised approach that takes into account variations such as body type, habits, and gender.
We developed an AI-driven wearable to model posture in 3D environments, with prototypes that were co-designed through five stakeholder-informed workshops.
The wearable captures biomechanical data using wearables and vision-based system, and enables cloud-based feedback and privacy-respecting longitudinal tracking.
Key details
More information
What we did
We developed PostureCoach, an AI-powered, cloud-connected wearable system designed to monitor and model postural behaviour in three-dimensional environments. The platform assesses how lifestyle and behavioural factors impact musculoskeletal health and wellbeing, with a particular emphasis on mitigating back pain - one of the most prevalent occupational health issues. Inspired by remote working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, PostureCoach is designed to be non-invasive, inclusive, and comfortable across diverse anatomies and abilities.
Our iterative design process included five prototyping phases, co-designed with stakeholders through national and international workshops to refine functional and ergonomic requirements. The system captures musculoskeletal dynamics and back muscle support, integrating vision-based sensor data for biomechanical modelling. Surveys were conducted to embed user feedback directly into design iterations. To respect user privacy, we extended the system to operate solely via wearable sensing. A cloud infrastructure enables real-time feedback, continuous model training, and facilitates external research by providing access to anonymised data and trained models.
Outputs
Publications
Pourshahrokhi, N., Sun, Y., & Asadipour, A. (2024). Commercial and Research-Based Wearable Devices in Spinal Postural Analysis: A Systematic Review. In IoT Technologies and Wearables for HealthCare (pp. 65–83). Springer Nature Switzerland.
Lo, T., Pourshahrokhi, N., Stables, T., Gheerawo, R. and Asadipour, A. (2023) ‘Workshop: Wearables for personalised posture’, International Conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement, DeSForM.
Asadipour, A., Sun, Y., Kargar, S.M., 2025. ‘PostureCoach. Chinese Innovation Patent (Final Stage, 2025).
Global Innovation Talks & Demos:
2025 Mercedes Benz Tech Innovation, Stuttgart, Germany
2025 Universität Würzburg, Germany
2024 Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony, London & Tokyo
2024 London Office of Technology and Innovation, London
2023 Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong
2023 University of Science and Technology (UST), Hong Kong
Public Engagement and AI Panels
2024 Culture X AI, V&A, London
2024 London Design Festival
2023 Fashion x AI, The Mills Fabrica, London
Commercial Outputs
GitHub Page and PostureCoach v4.0 (under embargo)
