If rolling out of bed is a monumental struggle for you each morning, there’s a new gizmo up on Kickstarter right now that might be of interest. Following a hugely successful campaign back in 2012, the makers of the original Ramos Alarm Clock are back with a new, improved, and more affordable model.
Ramos takes a novel approach to getting you out of bed. Rather than letting you endlessly hit the snooze button, the clock actually forces you to get out of bed. When the alarm comes on, it won’t shut off until you physically get out of bed and bring your smartphone within range of a small Bluetooth beacon. The idea is that you place this beacon somewhere away from your bedside –maybe your closet, your bathroom, or even next to your coffee pot in the kitchen– so you’ve got no choice but to leave the comfort of your mattress if you want to silence the alarm.
Unlike your phone alarm, there is no way you can cheat Ramos. Even if you unplug it, the clock’s backup batteries will keep Ramos alive for hours. There’s even a special “Lockdown” setting that prevents you from waking up early and deactivating the alarm before it goes off.
The new and improved model boasts dozens of thoughtful features the first-generation Ramos didn’t, yet it’s also quite a bit cheaper. The original version was made with more luxurious materials (hardwood panels, nixie tubes, and steel knobs) which made it rather expensive to manufacture. The new one is constructed from plastic and LEDs, so while the first-gen Ramos still costs about $500 bucks, the new iteration can be had for just $100.
The project still has a long way to go in order to reach it’s $100K funding goal on Kickstarter, but it’s making solid progress, and if all goes well, the Ramos team hopes to ship the first units to backers as early as May 2015.
