Let's be honest, there isn't really an easy way to get up in the morning. Your warm, toasty bed will always be warm and toasty, and outside of it will always present a cold and unfathomable start to the day. Still, that hasn't stopped a long line of takes on the classic alarm clock designed to make mornings that little bit easier. The latest to clock on in this ongoing struggle is by French startup SensorWake, whose tabletop timepiece sees your favorite scents waft through your nostrils just as you're due to wake.
Guillaume Rolland certainly wasn't the first university student to have trouble getting up for class in the morning, but he may be the first to turn to our sense of smell to remedy the situation. His SensorWake alarm clock is said to be as easy to use as a coffee machine. Users can set their wake up time and load it up with a purpose-made capsule to have it emit an aroma of their choosing in the morning.
Among the available smells are espresso and hot croissant, sweet peach, strawberry candy, ginger and pepper mint. These capsules have been developed with Swiss fragrance manufacturer Givaudan and should last 60 uses each.
Wondering what smell could possibly be strong enough to wake you, apart from perhaps your partner's mid-slumber vapors? Well according to the company, it has fine tuned the dosage through its testing to be capable of waking you in less than two minutes. Worst-case scenario, an audio alarm will kick in after three minutes to ensure you don't oversleep.
SensorWake joins a number of other clocks that trade on the sense of smell to wake you up. In 2008, Japanese researchers developed a fire alarm that emits the smell of wasabi, designed as a safeguard against disaster for the deaf. Last year we came across an alarm clock that welcomes you to consciousness with the scent of freshly brewed coffee.
Currently the subject of Kickstarter campaign SensorWake's makers are seeking to raise €50,000 (US$54,570) to bring their alarm clock to market. With shipping slated for November, early pledges of €60 (US$66) are still available at the time of writing and will have one sent your way provided everything runs as planned.
Source: SensorWake