People have had a hard time getting out of bed ever since, well, probably ever since beds became comfortable. And ever since the invention of the snooze button, sleep-loving procrastinators around the globe have been struggling to wake up on time. But not to worry. If you’re the type who can’t resist the allure of an extra five minutes under the sheets, there’s a new gizmo under development that might just be able to solve your problem.
The Chipper Alarm takes a novel approach to getting you out of bed. Rather than letting you endlessly hit the snooze button, the clock actually forces you to get up. It’s equipped with a set of capacitive sensors that can tell when somebody is on the bed, so it won’t shut off until you physically leave your mattress.
Now here’s the thing. This definitely isn’t the first alarm clock designed to make you get up and out of bed. There are dozens of alarms that do this. We’ve seen everything from clocks that drive off your nightstand and hide from you, to ones that won’t shut off until you go into another room and enter a disarm code. If you’re on a budget, you can just set up your alarm clock in the corner of your bedroom.
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These solutions all work to a certain degree, but they all have the same flaw — once you’ve disarmed them, you can return to bed without consequence. Chipper doesn’t let that fly. If you get back into bed between certain hours of the day, the system will sense that you’ve returned to bed and sound the alarm again. There’s really no way to cheat it.
It’s still just a prototype at this point, but creator David Levi and his team are revving up to bring it into production. No word on if or when a crowdfunding campaign is in the works, but the team is hoping to spread the word at this year’s Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. In the meantime, you can sign up for updates on the project at Chipper’s dedicated website.
