Lumo Lift, a digital reminder to stop slouching
Straighten up. Quit slouching. Do it with the Lumo Lift, a clip-on gadget that keeps tabs on your how bad (or good) your posture is.
LAS VEGAS -- The Lumo Lift is a bit like a doting mom. It really just wants what's best for you, and it's not afraid to let you know when you're slumping. Unlike a mom, it only works when you want it to and it's pretty subtle about how it tells you to pay attention to your posture.
Lumo Bodytech is showing off prototypes of its new Lift gadget at CES. It's worn anywhere around your chest area. The device clips on magnetically, so you can choose whether or not to show it off to the world or tuck it away under a shirt. It communicates with an app that keeps track of your upper body position. It knows when you're slouching and when you're standing tall, and can be set to vibrate as a reminder to get your act together.
While there's been a boom in health and fitness wearable technology that tracks everything you do, the Lift isn't trying to be all things. It has a very focused mission of getting you into a better body position.
This isn't Lumo's first foray into posture-improvement tech. The company's original device, the Lumoback, sits on a person's lower back. It's still available, but not everyone is keen on wearing a strap around their body. That's why the Lumo Lift should have a wider appeal.
The Lift is currently underway as a crowdfunding project with a $69 pledge price. It's almost $140,000 towards a $200,000 goal with a month left to go. That early boom in preorders seems to show that people know they have bad posture and want to improve, but sometimes they need a little polite digital nagging to get there.
