Do you like the idea of your morning alarm running away when you reach for the snooze button? Check out the 3D printed phones on wheels. 

At the University of Tokyo, researchers have built a set of 3D printed wheels which attach to your smartphone.

The gadget can do amusing things like from rolling away when you lean over to press snooze on the alarm; push packages towards you; measure the size of your room; and ask for attention when you receive an important notification.

The idea is to explore ”the interaction for smartphones with kinetic capabilities.” The researchers behind this project, Takefumi Hiraki, Koya Narumi, Koji Yatani and Yoshihiro Kawahara, have created a video to explain exactly how the phone gadget works.

The video is a demo for the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) in October, the premier forum for innovations in human-computer interaction.

Phones on Wheels is a Challenge for Lazy Folk

Powering the phone on wheels is a circuit board with micro-controllers, plus motors and rotary encoders, all snugly fitted inside a 3D printed case.

Of course, the functions depend on the surface the phone is on in order for the wheels to work, but in the right circumstances the phone can operate like a pushy personal assistant.

For example, with uses such as the “motor actuation,” your phone will bring you objects, or simply inform you of important notifications with the “hard push” option if the phone is not nearby

More options include “scale trace,”which can take measurements of an area, and — perhaps most useful of all — the “runaway snooze”, which senses when you are reaching to turn off the alarm.

Simply make sure your phone is safe and doesn’t drive itself off the bedside table in a morning frenzy, and this could be the perfect gift for anyone who sleeps in too late.

(Source: Motherboard)