PostureCoach: Holistic Posture Mentoring in Delivering Personalised Interventions

PostureCoach is an AI-enabled posture mentoring platform developed to support personalised interventions for musculoskeletal health. The system addresses poor posture and back-pain-related wellbeing by combining wearable sensing, biomechanical modelling, cloud-based feedback, and privacy-aware longitudinal tracking. Rather than treating posture as a one-size-fits-all problem, the project considers individual differences such as body type, habits, gender, work routines, and ergonomic contexts.

The project sits within AiDLab and was developed through a collaboration between the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Royal College of Art Computer Science Research Centre. The research direction connects AI, wearable electronics, human-centred design, and digital health, with the RCA project page describing PostureCoach as a cloud-connected wearable system for modelling postural behaviour in three-dimensional environments.

The platform was shaped through iterative prototyping and stakeholder-informed workshops. Its sensing approach combines wearable capture with biomechanical interpretation, while the cloud infrastructure supports real-time feedback, continuous model training, and anonymised data access for further research. The design goal is to keep the intervention non-invasive, inclusive, and comfortable across different bodies, abilities, and daily working conditions.

Yitong's role

Yitong joined the project team as a Research Assistant and served as the Wearable Electronics Engineer. His work focused on the physical sensing and electronics layer of the system, translating posture-monitoring requirements into wearable hardware prototypes that could be assembled, tested, and iterated with the wider research team.

• Designed and iterated PCB layouts for wearable posture-sensing prototypes.
• Assembled, debugged, and tested wearable electronics for data capture and feedback workflows.
• Integrated sensors into wearable form factors while considering comfort, placement, and signal reliability.
• Developed prototype housings and mechanical enclosures for embedded electronics.
• Supported hardware bring-up, calibration, circuit construction, and iterative prototyping across project phases.

Outputs and engagement

RCA documents the project through research outputs including a systematic review on wearable devices for spinal postural analysis, a personalised posture workshop, a patent-stage innovation output, and public demonstrations across research, technology, and AI-design venues. These outputs position PostureCoach as both a wearable health research platform and a design-led system for personalised posture intervention.