{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,4]],"date-time":"2026-09-04T18:13:20Z","timestamp":1788545600963,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767571200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Algorithms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Posture, defined as the body\u2019s alignment relative to gravity, plays a vital role in musculoskeletal health by influencing muscle efficiency, joint integrity, and overall balance. The global shift to remote and sedentary work environments during the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified concerns regarding posture-related disorders and long-term ergonomic risks. This study introduces ALIGN, an IoT-enabled intelligent system for real-time sitting posture detection that integrates both machine learning and deep learning methodologies. Implemented on a single-board computer, the system processes live video streams to classify user posture as correct or incorrect and provides alert-based notifications when sustained improper posture is detected, thereby supporting real-time posture awareness without issuing corrective instructions. Among conventional classifiers, K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Classifiers (SVC), and Multi-Layer Perceptrons (MLP) achieved accuracies of 98.74%, 96.64%, and 97.17%, respectively, while in the deep learning category, ResNet52 reached a test accuracy of 94.37%, outperforming DenseNet121 (81.53%). By enabling intelligent real-time detection and monitoring, ALIGN offers a scalable and cost-effective solution for ergonomic risk awareness and preventive digital health support.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/a19010048","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T12:38:56Z","timestamp":1767616736000},"page":"48","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["ALIGN: An AI-Driven IoT Framework for Real-Time Sitting Posture Detection"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-8223-4381","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kunal Kumar","family":"Sahoo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar 382007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tanish","family":"Patel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar 382007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7775-3244","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Debabrata","family":"Swain","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar 382007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9895-7606","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vassilis C.","family":"Gerogiannis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Digital Systems, University of Thessaly, 41500 Larissa, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9964-4134","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andreas","family":"Kanavos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Informatics, Ionian University, 49100 Corfu, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Davinder Paul","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar 382007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Manish","family":"Kumar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, School of Technology, Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar 382007, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6506-9207","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Biswaranjan","family":"Acharya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer Engineering-AI and BDA, Marwadi University, Rajkot 360003, India"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"30","article-title":"The Future of Occupational Health: Anticipating Risks in the Evolving Workplace","volume":"1","author":"Parsakia","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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