If you've ever been lambasted by a grumpy partner freshly roused by your buzzing alarm clock, then you may have found yourself pondering ways to spare them the early wake up call. One team of mechanical and electrical engineers has gone a step further – they've actually built a solution. Lucera Labs isn't the first startup to mimic the natural sunrise for a more subtle start to the day, but by bringing highly targeted sounds into the mix it hopes to save your significant other some valuable shut-eye, and perhaps even your relationship.
Launched last week on Kickstarter, Wakē joins a long list of alarms that promise a gentler beginning to your morning routine. Phillips first awoke to the benefits of replicating a sunrise in the bedroom in 2006, while several have followed in the years since, and they haven't been limited to just conventional clock/lamp combos either. Sunrise-imitating sleep masks like Napwell and LUMI offer yet another way to ease into the day.
Wakē is white-brick-shaped box that is attached to a wall mount above the user's bed. Tell the system which side of the bed you sleep on and equipped with an infrared sensor, it will find you in the morning using your body heat as a guide. Then a warm, white LED light is beamed down onto the area around your face to mimic a rising sun.
A parametric speaker is used to deliver sounds to the user in narrowly focused ultrasonic waves. Lucera Labs claims that this is targeted enough to spare the other person in the bed from noisy disturbances.
The Wakē system connects with iOS and Android smartphone apps over WiFi, where users can fine tune its settings. This might include the side of the bed you sleep on, what time you'd like to be woken up, the alarm volume and the brightness of the light.
Another neat feature of Wakē is that once it is done getting you up and ready to take on the day, it turns its attention to your partner, quite literally. It swivels on the mount, scanning the bed for other resting bodies, and if configured to do so in the app, will apply the targeted lights and sounds at the designated wake-up time.
At the time of writing, Lucera Labs' Kickstarter campaign is more than three quarters of the way to its funding goal of US$100,000. It is planning to ship in June if the remaining cash can be raised. Pledges of $249 are still available and will have one sent your way if all goes to plan.
You can check out Lucera Labs' pitch video below.
Source: Lucera Labs
