Breathing, huggable robotic pillow even sings and reads you stories as you drift off.
Straight up confession? I’ve had my teddy bear since I was three and he’s still in my bed every night when I climb in. If you sleep with your teddy bear (or bunny or duckie or hippo- no animal judging here!) and feel like maybe you’re getting too old to hug a stuffed animal at night, I’ve got an amazing alternative for you- Somnox. A peanut-shaped pillow equipped with sensors for curing insomnia and key to a good night’s sleep.
Furthermore, it does things that your teddy won’t (which even if it did, would scare the living lights outta you) to help you feel better- like adjust its own artificial breathing to match yours, shine a light and play a lullaby if you have a nightmare and it can even play music or read a story while you drift off to sleep.
“Our company was started in the robotics institute of the University of Technology Delft,” Julian Jagtenberg, one of the Netherlands-based founders of Somnox, said. “As four robotics engineers, we wanted to create a soft robot that could solve a personal issue: That of sleep deprivation.” Jagtenberg said
the team started by looking at ways to solve the problem, but most of them seemed to involve medication — sometimes with addictive side effects. “This was the moment the Somnox sleep robot was born,” he said.
Somnox is the brainwave of a group of robotics and engineering students from Delft University of Technology. The device is still in the prototype phase, but the entrepreneurial engineers behind its creation hope to obtain enough funding to take it to market.
One in three adults doesn’t get enough sleep. 40% of the world’s population is suffering from sleep deprivation. But with the busy pace of modern life and worries leaving some people lying awake, for many this is an unachievable luxury. While sleep is the basis for health, current solutions are medicines with addictive side-effects. Somnox offers the first non-medicinal soft robotic solution for the best night of sleep.
As well as adjusting your breathing patterns, Somnox has a built-in speaker with an accompanying app programmed to play sounds selected to help soothe one into sleep. The system is loaded with pre-set heartbeat sounds, lullabies and guided meditations, but you can also upload your own personal playlist to help you get to sleep.
The audio features of the Somnox at least have strong anecdotal backing. On the other hand, the breathing rhythm claims are slightly less convincing, although the company does point to several studies backing its claims that link better sleep with a slow breathing rhythm.
The pillow gathers information using multiple high-sensitivity sensors. This data can be used to determine whether you are awake or in a deep sleep. The device’s artificial intelligence algorithm can then interpret that data to create a tailor-made ‘treatment’. It registers your sleeping state and adjusts its sleeping rhythm to a peaceful state. Somnox then provides a breathing simulation, based on your own breathing behaviour during the night.
Made from soft polyurethane mattress foam with a nylon shell and washable outer cover, Somnox weighs 1.9 kg (4.2 lb) and measures 35.5 x 20.3 x 12.7 cm (14 x 8 x 5 in).
For a starter price of 449 euros ($530), you get a Somnox sleep robot, washable sleeve, a mobile app with over-the-air updates, and a charger. Shipping is set to take place in July.
While that is certainly a decent chunk of change to invest in a robotic pillow, if this works as promised, it could be transformative. After all, you can’t put a price on a good night’s sleep!
