Glowing alien grenade or intelligent sleep tracker? Either way, it’ll add flair to your bedside table

Put that away before it hatches. I don’t want to be eaten today.
Shhh. Calm down. This isn’t an alien egg. Not that we’re sure what alien eggs look like, mind. For all we know, this could be an exact replica of an Arlekocythian spawn pod from Xathros, in Nebulon 7G.

But it’s not. It’s Sense – an intelligent, sleep tracker. Say Hello.

Er, Hello Sense. What do you… I mean…. what does it do?
Besides from looking awesome you mean? Well, Sense is all about sleep. More specifically, making sure that you get enough of it, as well as ensuring that your conditions are optimised to get the best sleep possible.

It’s packed with numerous sensors which tell you how good the conditions in your bedroom are for getting a decent kip.

An ambient light sensor measures how dark your room is for starters. The darker the room, the better you’ll sleep.

Sense also packs in temperature and humidity sensors, and over time, it’ll tell you what room temperature is ideal for you to nod off in easily.

It’s even got a particle sensor to measure dust and pollen. Maybe you’ll need to buy an air filter after all?

Clever stuff. But how does it know how well I’m sleeping?
Sense comes with a Sleep Pill which attaches to your pillow. It uses a 6-axis accelerometer and gyroscope to record even the tiniest of your movements during the night.

An accompanying app can show you how well you’ve been sleeping, and it can even tell you what disturbed you in the middle of the night, thanks to its sensors.

Sense also has a built-in microphone, so it can let you know if a noise like a car alarm (or a snoring partner) disrupted your sleep in the middle of the night.

You can even check up on your bedroom when you’re out and about, thanks to Sense’s built in Wi-Fi smarts.

Impressive. Can I ditch my alarm clock too?
You sure can. The Sense app lets you set what time you want to get up, and it can rouse you awake at a moment when you’re in the lightest stage of sleep, thanks to the data being fed to it from the Sleep Pill.

A proximity sensor lets you dismiss the alarm with a lazy wave of a hand too, although given our snooze addiction, that sounds a little too dangerous to us.

Sold.
Well, we haven’t told you where to get it from yet, but we applaud your enthusiasm.

You can pick up Sense from US$100 on Kickstarter, and you should have it settled comfortably in your bedroom sometime in November. Sweet dreams.

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.