Inventors wide awake with sensor technology

It seems heavy sleepers have found their match when it comes to alarm clocks, with a particularly special version designed by German university students and recently unveiled at a hi-tech fair held in Hanover.

The clock was among a multitude of gadgets from 4,000 exhibitors at the CeBIT fair, the world’s biggest yearly IT expo.

At the appointed time, the clock opens the user’s bedroom curtains and then, at five minute intervals, turns on the bedside lamp, switches on the radio and sets off an alarm.

The user can only stop the alarm by standing on a sensor pad beside their bed. When the clock is satisfied that they are awake, it rewards them by turning on the coffee machine.

According to one of the university students, Birgit Wilkes, the clock also has a more serious application.

“We are using similar sensor technology to monitor the homes of old people to detect if they fall,” she says.

Sensor technology is currently being developed in leaps and bounds, and inventors are reaping the rewards across a range of industries. As Wilkes says, the aged care sector will benefit enormously from such technology, so what other areas will see value in it?