Startup company Ruggie has made an alarm clock that will make sleepers wake up. The alarm clock is in the form of a mat with feet pressure sensors to turn the buzzer off.
Public-benefit corporation Kickstarter has made a successful crowd-funding campaign for Ruggie to deliver a pressure sensor alarm clock in the disguise of a bathroom mat to make people get up from their sleep. The campaign is already fully funded and with more than seven weeks still left on the campaign period.
The Ruggie alarm goes off when its users place both feet firmly on the memory foam disguised as a bathroom mat for three seconds minimum for the alarm to turn off, therefore making its owners wake up from their sleep and stand up. The pressurized alarm mat includes an LED screen on the top right of its corner. The display is used for setting time, date, alarm, as well as other types of notification like appointments or meetings along with the pre-loaded alarm sounds. In addition, the LED screen can also serve as a night light when getting up to go to the bathroom or to the kitchen to drink water in the middle of the night.
The Ruggie alarm mat can also be connected to a laptop or PC via USB to upload audio files on it that will play automatically after the alarm is turned off. This can be useful for work reminders or just playing a favorite song upon waking up to set the mood right. The makers of this pressurized alarm mat recommend affirmations to encourage its users to start their day off on a positive step. As for power, the smart mat operates with three triple-A batteries that should last roughly for one year with everyday usage. It is also possible to machine-wash the smart mat, assuming that its users remove the batteries and all its electronics from the rug's interior before tossing it for laundry.
The Ruggie alarm mat is, however, less sophisticated in comparison to a smartphone alarm app. Ruggie's can only be set for a single time on each day and not varied times throughout the whole week. The Kickstarter project timeline says that Ruggie will be in full production this summer and will ship by September of this year with a price tag of US$99.
