Blanket stories

Each time you switch off the snooze button in the morning, the Blanc-o-matic, by Eva Burneleit and Katrin Lütkemöller, is gradually and irrevocably pulled down in the direction of your feets by 20 cm.

Video.

Via a neat post by Retto on challenging interfaces that force people out of bed.

Of course when shopping for a new blanket one likes to have the choice, so here's a few suggestions:

Noam Toran designed the Sheet Thief as part of his series of Accessories for Lonely Men. Set on a timer, the device winds the bedclothes up into a tube attached to the side of the bed every five hours. Once woken by the cold, the sleeper can pull the sheet out again and reclaim it for himself. He also prototype the Hair Alarm Clock. Attached to the headboard, hair swishes onto user’s face, waking him up.

Hair Alarm Clock and Sheet Thief

Undercover, by Dana Gordon and Alejandro Zamudio Sanchez, is a soft soundscape that can be wirelessly connected to any source of audio allowing you to listen to your favourite music or radio station. Tugging on the top corners of the blanket adjusts the volume and intensity to vary the experience according to your mood.

When you sit or lie on the bed, Nicholas Stedman's Blanket starts to wrap you or cover you up, behaving a bit "like a pet." Each part of the blanket's skeleton is fitted with a pressure sensor enabling it to respond to the movement from the people it envelops.

The Homeland Security Blanket, by FutureFarmers, is wirelessly networked to the internet. The prototype responds to the Homeland Security color coded "Threat Levels" by a temperature change and an indicating light which alerts the user of current threat and comforts them accordingly.