When the Alarm Clock Runs and Hides

bbbbryan writes to tell us about the commercialization of the elusive alarm clock prototyped at the MIT Media Lab a couple of years back. This alarm clock actually runs, hides from you, and beeps to ensure that you'll be awake enough not to go back to sleep by the time you find it and get it shut up. Detroit News has a writeup on the device, which you can buy from the inventor's site for $50.

Some youtube of the clock in action

[adamstew (909658)]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNGnkY_S6I [youtube.com]

Enjoy!

Re:Some youtube of the clock in action

[kestasjk (933987)]

So you wake up, groggily stumble out of bed and tread on your alarm clock, which is basically a half-roller-skate, you slip and your forehead smashes your china lamp...

Coffee for me I think. (ahahar)

Re:Some youtube of the clock in action

[by Anonymous Coward]

you slip and your forehead smashes your china lamp...

Try sleeping now, punk!

Re:

[ozbon (99708)]

Ah, I have a hack to stop this happening.

Stand the thing on it's end, rather than on the wheels. It might spin round, but it isn't going anywhere.
Hell, you could even just trap it between two books. Or have I missed the point? *grin*

Re:

[pikine (771084)]

The clock likes to crawl under the bed. It is annoying, even when you're awake, to have to duck under your bed in order to reach for the clock. Imagine the pain for a queen or king sized bed!

shock

[Lehk228 (705449)]

wouldn't it be cheaper to wire a capacitor to your snooze button?

For that matter...

[Moraelin (679338)]

For that matter, if anyone has that much trouble getting up, wouldn't it be more productive to actually go to bed some 8 hours before having to get up? I dunno, just a crazy idea.

And, much as I'm a gamer myself, the excuse better not be, "but my guild needed me for a raid" ;)

Re:shock

[z0idberg (888892)]

Sort of similar theme, I like this one. [engadget.com]
You have to diffuse the bomb to stop the alarm. Gets your brain woring so (hopefully) you are wide awake by the time you turn it off and dont go back to sleep. I can't see this one surviving a bad hangover though.

Re:shock

[Bloke down the pub (861787)]

You have to diffuse the bomb to stop the alarm.

My eyesight's already pretty soft-focus when I wake up.

I claim prior art

[JonTurner (178845)]

>>This alarm clock actually runs, hides from you, and beeps to ensure that you'll be awake enough not to go back to sleep by the time you find it and get it shut up.

Also known as kids. Though mine tend to scream rather than beep.

Re:I claim prior art

[evilviper (135110)]

Also known as kids. Though mine tend to scream rather than beep.

Odd... My kids only beep.

Perhaps I should look into that...

Re:shock

[jeff4747 (256583)]

wouldn't it be cheaper to wire a capacitor to your snooze button?

You'd be surprised what a 'night person' is willing to sleep through. Electric shock? No problem. Much less painful than waking up before noon.

Second Amendment

[Philotic (957984)]

A very valid reason for preserving the second amendment.

Lazyboy alarm clock

[Sigma 7 (266129)]

It sounds like the one from 12:01 [imdb.com], which moves and insults the user at the same time.

$50 per use will get expensive

[EmbeddedJanitor (597831)]

When you catch the friggin thing you will smash it to hell, so you'll need to buy a new one for the next use. Damn expensive!

Rather make one out of Lego Mindstorms. At lest then when you smash it, it only de-bricks and you can build it back together again!

Re:

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

I think the tennis ball alarm clockis a little more practical [tennisgifts.com] then a self-reconstructing robot.

It's an alarm inside a tennis ball - you throw it against the wall to turn it off. I think tho' that it would be more useful if the throw activated snooze - as described here [freepatentsonline.com]:

An alarm clock in the form of a sports ball has an alarm clock assembly with a snooze-type audio alarm which is temporarily silenced when the ball is thrown against a wall. The alarm clock ball has a feasible and resilient core of a foamed pl

Re:

[ozbon (99708)]

I had one of those a few years ago, and it worked out damn' expensive too - I threw it through a (closed) window. Ooops.

The alarm didn't survive either...

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[asninn (1071320)]

When you catch the friggin thing you will smash it to hell, so you'll need to buy a new one for the next use. Damn expensive!

Sounds like a great business model that ensures a steady revenue stream for the manufacturer. :)

Would be only a matter of time..

[priestx (822223)]

before I punt that motherf**ker out the window.

Re:

[EmbeddedJanitor (597831)]

I once did that with a regular old wind-up alarm clock. It hit the sidewalk from four floors up. Springs and shit everywhere! Never was a late sleep in ever that sweet.

Re:Would be only a matter of time..

[Anarchitect_in_oz (771448)]

That's ok,...

Version 2 - Will have GPS to finds it's way back to your room before the next morning.

Sounds like...

[_Hellfire_ (170113)]

MMS' sentient alarm clock.

I was in a bar in Ensenada, drinking a warm beer quickly and trying to remind myself that I hadn't murdered anyone, when my alarm clock caught up with me. Little bastard.

More [randomhouse.com]

Why make it so difficult...

[Kjella (173770)]

I have an alarm clock for when I really really need to get up. There's no going back to sleep afterwards because you're either in cardiac arrest or wide awake, it lacks any concept of gentle wake-up and is only slightly less annoying than the smoke detector. To avoid the former I use my regular cell phone first, so I'm only slumbering or in light sleep when it goes off.

Re:Why make it so difficult...

[Lumpy (12016)]

My 15 year old stepson (who is now 23) had problems waking. so I built him an alarmclock that is very much like the one spongebob has.

I wired a foundry alarm klaxon to it. 115DB of unmuteable BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAPBT! the alarm clock was mounted to the wall across the room and had only 1 big red emergency shutdown button. if he did not get out of bed to his alarm and go over and press that button it went off.

The alarm went off only about 6 times before he was up in the morning on a regular basis. He took the alarm with him to college last time back. his response,"I have a pair of roommates that are incredibly lazy and will not get out of bed, so I always end up late to class as we car-pool."

I mentioned it was his car, he grinned and said, "No, this will do fine."

if you get the frequency low enough and loud enough there is not enough pillows to mute the sound to an acceptable level.

Re:

[pikine (771084)]

A number of years ago, I wrote a BASIC alarm clock program, running on DOS, that would only shut off if I answer a multiplication problem correctly, and these are two digit by two digit problems. Nowadays a program like that doesn't work because there are simpler ways to shut it off:

• Most computer speakers are now amplified. They have an on/off switch and a volume control. You can also mute the sound card much more easily nowadays. My old speakers were not amplified---you have to yank it off---and my prog

cat

[rahimobius (1087399)]

This might be more practical than strapping my alarmclock to my cat.

Prank Alarm Clock

[blurryrunner (524305)]

A combination of this idea could be combined with a prank a friend of mine pulled not too long ago.

He was studying computer engineering and doing stuff with embedded devices. He took a chip, a light sensor, and a small speaker and hid it in the room of one of his roommates. He programmed the device to sense when the lights went out and then it would sound off at full volume. The device would continue to sound until the lights came back on, at which time it would go silent. After the lights went out again, the timer would reset and the alarm would go off in another ten minutes...

-br

Re:Prank Alarm Clock

[Asmandeus (640419)]

And behold, at this time did mankind finally solve the ages old question of what exactly drives man to murder another.

So it was written.

Re:

[KokorHekkus (986906)]

Kudos to your friend for a masterful prank!

Now, I have a bit of a mean streak so I would like to suggest the following modification: instead of a fixed inteval it should be random, say between 5 - 20 minutes, coupled to how fast the pranked person responds... just to throw him of her off their rocks a bit. And finally... there shouldn't be a full volume alarm... I think a combination of gentle coughs or throat clearing sounds would be most effective.

Of course this is not recommended for US citizens un

Re:

[smellsofbikes (890263)]

I have several friends that spend a lot of time, when visiting (or I spend the time, when visiting them) hiding small alarm/timers in unexpected places, set for 2 AM. One of the best, so far, has been in a baggie in the toilet tank, although I'm pretty fond of taking off a heater vent grille and chucking it back in there and then putting the grille back together. That took one of my friends *forever* to recover, and plus you could hear it in multiple rooms.

Re:Prank Alarm Clock

[Frumious Wombat (845680)]

A modern, refined, version of the old flashbulb gag. Classic press-camera bulbs had standard screw-in bases like a normal lightbulb, but were filled with magnesium ribbon. So, you just go into someone's room/office (such as your sleeping roomie), unscrew the conventional bulbs, and put one of those suckers in. They wake up, flip the light switch, and it looks like a nuke went off in the room, after which it's mercifully dark so you can make your get-away. Someone should combine these two pranks, then report back.

Note: one of you. I'm older, married, and when married you discover that practical jokes on the roomie have different consequences than when in college.

nice, but...

[cyborch (524661)]

Similar ideas [gadgets.dk] have been in production for a while...

A flying alarm clock accomplishes the same task, plus: IT'S FLYING

WOOHOO!!!

[evilviper (135110)]

I CAN'T WAIT to buy a bunch of these things, and modify them!

Can you imagine the mischief potential?!

Modify it so it goes at high speed, and NEVER STOPS moving...

I can't wait to unleash a bunch of these annoying little bastards in the nearest shopping mall!

Re:

[Ixlr8 (63315)]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of these!

Re:WOOHOO!!!

[mjwx (966435)]

There already is a fast moving device that emits a loud annoying sound at the shopping centre (mall). They're called children.

Re:

[odourpreventer (898853)]

Yep, best alarm clock there is; children. But only on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

...damn

[Perseid (660451)]

This thing had better be mallot-proof and bullet-proof, cause...damn.

Flame Fest.

[femto (459605)]

How long before, like the flaming mouse [abc.net.au], one of these knocks a candle over or runs into a fireplace, and burns a house down?

Re:

[X-treme-LLama (178013)]

I don't know about you, but I blow my candles OUT when I go to sleep. What the hell are you doing burning candles over-night or when you're not somewhere near the area?

If it happens to someone, it's their own damn fault.

Going to sleep with candles lit.. That's just asking to get crispy-baked in a fire..

NEVER LEAVE FIRE UNATTENDED! Fucking DUH!

Re:

[asninn (1071320)]

Do you usually have lit candles or a lit fireplace in the room when you're asleep? I don't.

Runs and hides...?

[Demerara (256642)]

...falls off the bedside locker and rolls about aimlessly more like.

This being /. I was expecting some real smart features such as:

o Learns the layout of your bedroom

o Jumps off the locker before it goes off

o Hides in the optimum place

o Doesn't hide in the same place twice

o Has a proximity sensor - runs away as you try to pick it up.

Based on the Yew-Toob clips, I reckon this gadget would last about 5 minuted in my house. It's simply too easy to hit with a stick.

Re:Runs and hides...?

[retro128 (318602)]

You noticed that too, eh? The thing does spend an inordinate amount of time repeatedly bumping into walls. That thing wouldn't get far in my house either. It'd just get caught on all the clothes on the floor and I'd end up stepping on it. I'll stick with my usual MO. Hit the snooze for 40 minutes and get up 10 minutes before I'm supposed to leave for work, take 10 minutes to get ready and somehow show up 15 minutes late. The boss once called me on it. I replied "Well, OK I can show up on time, but I'll leave at 5 sharp like everyone else around here.". Never heard about it again.

IT has its perks. I doubt I could be such a slovenly bastard in any other position.

Easy Job

[Bo'Bob'O (95398)]

Looking at those little wheels, I'm not sure that it could get very far to hide in my house.

Which is the very reason I don't need to spend $50 TO lose something, when I seem to be doing a damn fine job myself.

Great if you have a totally tidy room

[Paul Crowley (837)]

In our room it would fall straight into a pile of clothing and stay there. This will be great for the sorts of people who have a hard time getting up but somehow manage to keep their bedrooms 100% tidy, but I suspect that the intersection of those two sets is small.

Cool

[iminplaya (723125)]

A Segway for my parakeet.

Imagine...

[Toreo asesino (951231)]

...seeing one of those go off in an air-port check-in.

Somehow, it reminds me of this - http://junkfunnel.com/sld/ [junkfunnel.com] - possibly one of the most irresponsible products on the market!

Re:

[rahimobius (1087399)]

Then you might like this clock :) Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock with Bed Shaker: http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/lights/8f1a/ [thinkgeek.com]

Re:

[Bloke down the pub (861787)]

If I really need to get up - important appointment, to catch a plane etc - I set multiple alarms getting further away at intervals. Last line of defence is the TV in the lounge.

The gadget in TFA is neat, but what I'd really like is a coffee-maker with a timer.

Re:Best idea EVER

[AmiAthena (798358)]

I'm pretty sure they still make automatic timed coffee makers. I say "still" because I remember a while back (probably 10 years ago, now that I think of it) there were a few incidents with timer-equipped Mr. Coffee machines that helped you get up in the morning by burning down your house. Unfortunately they may have phased out that added functionality, and now you have to settle for waking up to the smell of fresh-brewed coffee in the morning without that pleasant furniture-roast aroma. The good features always disappear.

Re:

[MORB (793798)]

It is news because now you can buy one.
But it would have required you to actually read the thing instead of immediately switching to the "you suck this is old news I've seen this 50 years ago" mode.