Often I wake up in the morning only to find my alarm clock has been buried under a book or some paperwork, so checking the time can be a bit of swine. An unobscured projection alarm clock might help but when I wake up it sometimes takes me a while to orientate myself.
What I propose is a mini-airship with gaze and posture detection so it can stand a reasonable chance of pointing its clock face towards you when you emerge from the covers. It would constantly be positioning itself so you can access to the time, no matter what bizzare position you have managed to get yourself into.
It could be built using those indoor remote control airships that can be bought in gadget shops. Obviously such a device has a limited flying time so I propose a docking stand so it can recharge both its hellium reserves and its battery power. It would navigate over to it when either of these resources need recharging.
Anyway such a flying bedroom device has other applications that it could devote itself to while you are asleep, such as catching moths and other nocturnal insects. Maybe it could also mount a "spider patrol" of sorts or even do a spot of dusting around the ceiling during your deepest slumber.
In the morning it could even do a bombing raid on your head, with a payload of nerf bombs, to augment an audio alarm. You would have to reload the nerf bombs each morning, of course, but this act could double for the task of setting the alarm.-- Aristotle, Jul 12 2004 EyeKey 2004 http://www.cs.bu.ed...ee-RTV4HCI-2004.pdfAn example of a recent gaze detection paper. [Aristotle, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] I have no idea how it would be able to tell where you are looking by I like the idea anyway. The rest of it is at least possible.-- 5th Earth, Jul 12 2004 Gaze detection is possible these days. Trust me, I'm a Computer Scientist.
People have been working out how to interpret posture and gaze for sometime now. I've tracked down a sample paper [see link] for you to give you an idea of what kind of research is out there.-- Aristotle, Jul 12 2004 Sounds doable, actually. Won't be cheap, though. I like it! + What about people who sleep on their stomachs?-- evilmathgenius, Jul 12 2004 + for spider patrol amongst every other plus.-- po, Jul 12 2004 I like the idea of a clock that wanders around the room. I find I end up turning my alarm off in my sleep, then being late for whatever it was I had to get up for. +-- swimr, Jul 12 2004 People who sleep on their stomachs?
Their head should still be pointing somewhere, although such a person may need to forgo a head board and sleep with their head pointing towards the middle of their bedroom. Maybe if someone had their head buried in their pillow, but were trying to wake up, that person could be nerf-bombed by the airship so they can work out which way is up!-- Aristotle, Jul 14 2004 Why gaze detect? It would be simpler and cheaper to have a small homing beacon attached behind the bedhead. That way at least it's over you even if you're sleeping on your stomach.-- wagster, Jul 14 2004 //Trust me, I'm a Computer Scientist// There's words you don't often hear. And with good reason. [+]-- moomintroll, Jan 27 2006 Yes, i see what you mean. In fact, maybe it could be pulled around by a team of moths tethered by flypaper.-- nineteenthly, Apr 28 2009 [nineteenthly] A good build but I must admit to be creeped out by moths for they symbolise decay to me. However if moths could be steered then that annotation has legs ...
[21_Quest] Maybe the best way to turn it off would be via bedside table anti-aircraft-gun themed remote control.-- Aristotle, Apr 28 2009 //To snooze, you hit a large red button on your nightstand//
The snooze option on alarm clocks is the work of the devil. I like the fact that this gets you out of bed to turn it off. Could it take evasive action before letting you catch it to make sure you're up and staying up? [+]-- shudderprose, Apr 28 2009 It could somehow turn the moths into remote control zombies, like that cockroach robot, or maybe be towed about by insomniac butterflies.-- nineteenthly, Apr 28 2009 random, halfbakery