Sneaky Clocky

The people of MIT Media Lab work on some of the most annoying things. This is Clocky. Project manager Gauri Nanda says it's for people who have trouble waking up.

When the alarm clock goes off and the snooze button is pressed, Clocky will roll off the bedside table and wheel away, bumping mindlessly into objects on the floor until it finds a place to hide.

You get the idea. Minutes later, when the alarm sounds again, the sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky.

An internal processor helps it find a new hiding spot every day. Gauri says he was inspired by kittens that chewed on his toes every morning.

"I've been known to hit the snooze bar for up to two hours or even accidentally turn it off....Having the alarm clock hide from me was just the most obvious way I could think of to get out of bed," he said.

Now he's working on linking up Clockies so two people with different sleep schedules can make their Clocky hush up the other. Or, maybe, he says, they can form an alliance and simultaneously target the offending over-sleeper.

Sounds like your worst nightmare?