BACKGROUND: The number of smartphone users is immense. People can do ever more with a smartphone. Smartphones are used everywhere, including in bed and on the sofa. The awkward postures taken in these situations affect comfort and discomfort. In designing a bed, it might be useful to know which position is comfortable for smartphone use on a bed. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to define the most comfortable trunk angle for smartphone use on a bed. METHODS: To study comfort and discomfort, 52 participants were asked to use the smartphone on a bed. The trunk angle of this bed was adjusted to 6 positions from flat to upright and for each angle the comfort and discomfort was recorded. RESULTS: The results showed that the participants prefer a trunk angle range around 120 and 142 degrees. At the best trunk angle 29% of the participants felt comfort in the legs, 25% in the upper back and 16% in the shoulders. However, in this position 36% also mentioned discomfort in the lower back and 24 % in the neck. CONCLUSIONS: For smartphone use a bed is preferable which enables a trunk angle of around 120-140 degrees. For the legs this is comfortable. However, for the neck and upper back the problem of discomfort still needs attention.

Soteria is a patient transporting drone, which is part of a living lab setting for Future Mobility, which Embraer is developing. It has been designed in conjunction with the Talaria propulsion system, an autonomous and modular eVTOL flight package. The idea is that during disaster scenarios, Soteria is summoned by first responders to the scene after which a noncritical patient is loaded from the field into the carrier. Soteria then autonomously and independently ferries the patient safely to the closest hospital, where they are unloaded by medical personnel. It is important that handlings are fast and that the patient will fit in the system. Therefore, Soteria was ergonomically tested. The interior of the carrier, the interior layout, and human-machine interface were evaluated with a 1:1 model and compared with guidelines found in the literature. Based on that improvements were made and presented for future design iterations.