About Nevitron
The story of the chair begins in 1929, with Herman Potočnik Noordung's drawing of a desk for writing in weightless conditions, presented in his visionary book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums, published in Berlin.ent.
Biomechanics Noordung
Baikonur, 1999
With this starting point, we designed seats for the audience, who watched the first performance of the attractor Dragan Živadinov in zero gravity: Biomechanics of Noordung (August 1999) in an aeroplane that performs parabolic flights to create zero gravity conditions.
The first of the G=0 seats was assembled experimentally in our home garage. My elder son, then a curious eight-year-old (with ADHD), could hardly wait to try it. As soon as he sat down on it, it became his temporary homework space. The rocking seat did magic to him: tasks that we had been doing together for hours were suddenly done in a flash.
This experience motivated me to design a special chair for schoolchildren with ADHD.
Research
2008
2014-2015
2016-2017
2019-2021
First prototype made in collaboration with Donar. It was tested at the
A.M. Slomšek Primary School and used by children from all three year groups during additional lessons with a special educator. It was also tested for a short period of time with children with ADHD at SCOMS in Ljubljana. The trials encouraged further development of the project.
With Chair & Chair d.o.o., we upgraded the first version with a lighter and less rigid construction, and started to design mechanisms for the optional adjustment of the individual parts of the chair, which would allow a quick and easy adaptation to each user's size. KLUN Ambienti d.o.o. implemented ergonomically designed upholstered parts.
Observations on the use of chairs in supplementary classes at the
Ivan Cankar Primary School in Vrhnika. These took place in three different groups from Nov - Jun 2016/17. Several positive effects were observed, but not measured or otherwise evaluated.
With the financial support we received from the call for proposals
"Promotion of Creative Cultural Industries - CzK 2019", we have expanded the project to include the Faculty of Arts (Department of Psychology), the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, the Counselling Centre for Children, Adolescents and Parents, and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (CEMEK laboratory).
As part of the Master's theses at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Ljubljana, two related studies were carried out to compare the effectiveness of a group of children with ADHD and a control group of typical children working on a standard school chair, on a therapeutic chair and on our active chair.
The circumstances were less favorable (time constraints, smaller number of children of different ages tested, different disorders associated with ADHD), but the observations were confirmed:
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that for children with ADHD, more vigorous exercise is an indicator of more successful test performance.
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that in children with ADHD, more correct movement is an indicator of more successful test performance. It is worth noting here that incorrect movement indicates behavior that interferes with children's task performance and is disruptive to those around them (e.g. frequent leaving of a seat).
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Thus, we can conclude that active sitting is the best choice for both groups, but its effects are not sufficiently pronounced to make a statistically significant contribution to children's cognitive performance.
Papers
Taja Žnidarič
The Influence of Spontaneous Motor Activity Opportunities on the Cognitive Performance of Children with ADHD;
Master's thesis; Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology;
mentor: prof.dr.G. Repovš; co-mentor: prof.dr. G. Geršak
Valentina Stanić
Evaluation of the Dynamic Centre as a Solution for Learning Problems of Children with Neurological Disorders;
Master's thesis; second cycle Master's study programme Electrical Engineering; mentor: prof. dr. G. Geršak; commentor: prof. dr. G. Repovš
Meet the Team
Architect
Staša Zupančič
I work in interior design, stage objects, and architecture. I am very familiar with ADHD (I have it myself, as do my two sons). Positive experiences in the development and use of 'near-weightlessness' prototypes have helped me design Nevitron: an effective, adaptable, and durable device for children and adolescents with ADHD.
7samurai
Boštjan Jerman
I am CEO and owner of the project management company 7samurai with more than 15 years of experience in the field of project management and funding. I mostly work with research and development-oriented companies with a high share of investment in R&D. So far, I completed more than 350 successful projects, which have received more than 5 million euros in subsidies.
3D Print Austria
Nils Gödde & Filip Lerchbaumer
From conception to planning and production, we are competent and reliable partner in additive manufacturing. Our task was to produce the required 3D-printed components and contribute to the development and optimization of these parts. We are proud of the result and hope that this chair can fill a gap in the market.
Our project is
supported by
