Japan's Oki has developed an office chair that, it claims, can jump. And we thought all they were good for is spinning around and skating along on the casters.
Oki's chair, curiously codenamed 'Leopard', employs what the company's boffins call a "robot leg", with the bit for your bum equivalent to the thigh. The calf, ankle and foot form the stand on which the seat rests.
Oki's 'Leopard': the leaping chair
Oki's pitch is that the design makes the contraption actively help you stand up and makes sitting down more comfortable too. Empty, the chair's seat is angled upward so you don't have to bend down as far as you would with a standard chair. As you descend, the seat and back move in harmony with your own seat and back. More...