You could do worse than designing a new standing desk. And there seem to be enough new ways to approach standing to keep the options coming out. Gaze Lab thinks there’s a smarter way to manage desk fit and screen placement. With the Gaze Desk they want to solve these problems and then some, making it the smartest smart desk on the market.
The Gaze Desk has a motorized, adjustable dual-tier design, but most sit-and-stand desks adjust for sitting and standing, right? Well, Gaze approaches this a little differently. The desk incorporates a dual mechanical lift design to control the front and back tiers separate from or together with each other. A dial on the desk lets you adjust the height of each, but beyond this it gets a bit futuristic. Tied to a companion smartphone app, it can be programmed to adjust the desk automatically for you, throughout the day, based on your settings. It can be tied in with other Internet of Things (IoT) devices, like smartlamps or sensors, to send notifications or be notified of your presence. They plan to provide a foot pad, to sense your standing position and suggest adjustments, and a height lamp, to automatically capture height and adjust the desk accordingly.
The difference truly comes together in the smartphone app. Tied to the desk via Bluetooth, the app allows you to set reminders/notifications and tracks your sitting/standing routine, all while calculating your calorie loss. You have custom preset control, stats, and that fancy IoT compatibility through the app. On top of this, there are standing routine achievements badges, encouraging you to stick to your routine and provide tangible feedback on your progress. And yes, you can tie it in with social media to compete with friends or share (brag) about how much/little you’re standing.
The design also stands out on it’s own with four different smart desk material options, with additional color options, in either a single or dual tier configuration. The basic version is very close to the bamboo top, single surface Uplift desk design–minimal and sleek with controls just under the front desktop edge. From there, you have desktop material options for MDF, wood veneer, whiteboard or hardwood. The Gaze dDesk Kickstarter campaign is halfway to a $100,000 goal with pledge prices ranging from $359 to $1,699 USD, depending on features and options, and shipping as early as October 2016.
The Gaze wins big with smartphone reminders and notifications. As most of us at SolidSmack use standing desks, we find it all too easy to pull off the standing desk routine for a week and then return to old habits. Not to say it won’t happen with this desk, but it’s a step in the right direction. But a desk that has a mind of its own? What would you do if your desk suddenly started switching to standing mode? Stand up, I suppose. I suspect a few screams of “Noooo! Noo! Stop!” in there.
