For some, mornings are the perfect opportunity to attack the day head on and accomplish greatness. For everyone else on the planet, mornings are the perfect opportunity to slam on the snooze button of the smartphone dangerously close to the edge of the bed to get a few more precious minutes of sleep in.
Inventor Winstan Tam was one of those people until he created the Ruggie to address his chronic oversleeping. For him, the snooze function is the enemy. So he cleverly designed developed a mat made of soft memory foam that lives beside the bed, to be stepped on for at least three seconds before the morning alarm is deactivated. When successful, a fully customizable motivational speech is played to ensure early birds get the inspiration they need to seize the day.
Ruggie lasts an entire year on 3 AAA batteries and features bright LED time display that doubles as a night light. Backers can get their own for $79 and expect it to ship in September 2016. Tam is looking for about $36,000 by March 3rd, 2016 to call Ruggie a success.
A simple and elegant solution to an age-old problem, Ruggie succeeds in intelligently addressing a challenge everyone faces. By adding elements of positive motivation to the mix, the product effectively reaches out to a broad swath of people. It has a lot of room to grow, though, seeing as it isn’t as comprehensive as the Sleepion — but then again the Ruggie’s simplicity is what fuels its appeal.