How much is a good night’s sleep worth? A new smart bed is hoping you’ll say something in the ballpark of $30,000. Meet the HiCan, branded as “the world’s most revolutionary smart bed,” and probably one of the world’s most expensive, too.
The flagship product of Italian company Hi-Interiors, which describes the HiCan as “a technological cocoon designed by dreamers for dreamers” that blends design and technology into one very luxe self-contained bed(room). “We want to do with furniture what Tesla is doing with cars and Apple did with phones,” the HiCan team says on its Indiegogo page, and it’s doing so by creating a “new category of bed.”
Think of it as the 21st century answer to the canopy bed. But instead of billowing cloth to shield your slumber, the HiCan offers a sleek, high-tech solution. Its multitude of features include a configurable touch board with control capacitive sensors embedded in the headboard, automated adjustable head and footrest, automated privacy blinds, invisible speakers, an integrated Apple TV and Xbox or PlayStation gaming setup, HD projector, and yes, Wi-Fi. It’s unclear if you’re going to sleep in this bed, or spend the rest of your life in it.
While the bed was actually first introduced in 2008, the team says that this newest iteration of the product is its best ever. “The new HiCan represents the most advanced piece of furniture that has ever been conceived, being much more than a bed with an integrated entertainment system,” its Indiegogo page reads. “It implements a fully developed, state-of-the-art automation system. All components are controlled via a simple integrated application, available on all smartphones, tablets and computers. Every aspect of the user experience can be tailored, with customizable scenes, to the owner’s preferences.”
Of course, the gargantuan price tag isn’t lost upon the creators. “We really want to focus on consumer technology for everyone,” the HiCan team notes. “Any meaningful innovation is going to be an every-person’s technology.” And that’s why they’re turning to Indiegogo — the hope is that their crowdfunding campaign will “push forward innovation from the bottom,” and make the bed more widely accessible. So even if you can’t afford to actually buy a HiCan, the team is offering test drives in the high-tech bed for around $400 a night.
The HiCan has already raised more than 80 percent of its funding goal with a month left in its campaign.
