Will I soon be (partly) replaced by “smart monitors” and other robots that can help people learn and maintain an ergonomic posture, and prevent neck pain, for example? Maybe!
The short answer: monitors and robots that actively correct your posture only exist as prototypes so far. But there are plenty that warn you when your posture is poor, and laptop stands that turn along with you.
Which smart monitors and robots are there?
I looked into the research that has been done so far on smart ergonomic monitors and robots. And I checked: what’s already on the market?
A monitor that slowly adjusts its height
In 2019 researchers at KAIST university in South Korea built a “smart” monitor that very slowly adjusts in height. The idea is that if you’re slouching, for example, the monitor slowly changes its height (without you noticing). Eventually, you shift position and end up in a more ergonomic posture.
The researchers call this “unobtrusive posture correction”, and showed that it worked well for their (tiny) test group of 12 people. On day 1 of the study, the test group used a regular static monitor, and on day 2 the smart monitor. On day 2, the test group corrected their posture much more often. The study was carried out in 2019 and you can download it here.
The robot the researchers used was made by KUKA Robotics Corporation, and connected to a monitor with (I assume) a camera and a smart computer. In 2019, a KUKA robot cost around €100,000, so surely this can be done a lot cheaper… Yet, as far as I can find, no monitors have come onto the market that help you move from a poor to a good ergonomic posture by slowly moving in the “right” (ergonomically correct) direction.
Lenovo did build a “proof-of-concept” model that moves with the user and warns about poor posture. But if I understand correctly, it also moves “the wrong way”, when a user slumps, for example. That seems counterproductive to me!
A smart monitor with a camera + ergonomic tips
It’s very fancy, of course, that a monitor moves automatically when you adopt the wrong posture. But a simpler and much cheaper solution would be a monitor (with a small camera) that checks whether you’re sitting ergonomically, and shows a notification on the screen if you’re not.
In principle, this could just be software, but manufacturer ViewSonic has built this software into the monitor:
A laptop stand that moves with you
In 2025, Lenovo also built a laptop stand (not yet in production) that moves along with the user, based on what the laptop’s camera sees. But this innovation has the same problem: your computer moves with you if you as well if your position gets worse!
A cuddly robot that corrects you!
Swedish researchers at Chalmers tested the teddy bear robot “SitBot” in 2026. It copies the user’s posture and shows you when you’re slouching. The research is still ongoing, but a test with 20 users gave good results.
And researchers in China created Tuotle: a robot turtle on your desk that sticks its neck forward every 30 to 60 seconds, as if it’s sitting badly. Only when you press the button on its back does it sit up straight again. It’s based on the cognitive dissonance theory. The idea is that when you correct the turtle, you also automatically pay attention to your own posture. In a small pilot study (25 participants, 15 minutes per person) this worked just as well as a vibrating posture corrector, but the robot was rated as much more pleasant.
Unfortunately, there are no good photos of these cuddly robots!
A chair with sensors
In 2026, a study looked at how well sensors in chairs can “check” whether you’re sitting ergonomically. The test chair could also signal that a user wasn’t sitting ergonomically. In the lab, the sensors used in the test recognised 81% of the user’s postures. In “real life” (tested with only 10 people over 5 working days) this was 66%.
And did it actually help people sit better? No, not really. The test group didn’t sit (much) better. Maybe because they got used to the notifications, or because leaning forward simply feels more practical during computer work.
Conclusion: the robots are coming!
Although the research is still limited, and in my view people are building on the wrong ideas (the 2019 experiment was promising, but nothing was done with it), I’m very optimistic about the concepts. I think smart monitors, sensors and robots can really help people learn a more ergonomic posture. But I do see some risks.
There’s no single correct ergonomic posture
As some of the studies I mentioned also concluded: people get used to warnings. I’m also afraid that an “ideal posture” will be programmed into the system.
I believe there is no single “perfect” ergonomic posture that works for everyone. Every physical body is different, and everyone has different preferences and complaints. Some tips that are often regarded as “the best way to sit” can actually be dangerous for people with specific complaints and issues.
So in my view, an expert would always need to be involved to set up the robot properly, during an (online) ergonomic consultation. Perhaps that’s what my future looks like: a robot adviser?
Smart monitors: watch out for privacy
It’s outside my field of expertise, but something that generally worries me a lot when AI is combined with monitoring (such as cameras) is privacy. Who wants to be watched by a camera all day at work? Will employers make this “mandatory”? And of course, a camera can also be used for other monitoring purposes (such as: is the employee really productive for 8 hours?).
An employee is not a robot
One risk I do see is that if we can always automatically correct employees’ posture, employees and employers may see less need for taking breaks. Movement and taking breaks (ironically, there’s also break reminder software…) are really essential, no matter how well or badly you sit. We need to be careful not to turn people into robots too…
What’s your opinion? Do you know of real-life examples of tools or robots that help you maintain an ergonomic posture? Please let me know in the comments.