This smart pillow promises a better night’s sleep

In our quest to discover the latest sleep tech, we’ve come across sensor-equipped mattresses, sleep-tracking wearables and white-noise machines. Startup Mode Modern is taking a different approach with its Sunrise Smart Pillow. The $129/£100/AU$175 Sunrise promises to pack all of that sensor/tracking/white-noise tech into a single memory foam pillow.

Sunrise is currently in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign, but Mode Modern has already raised over $350,000 (the original goal was just $50,000). Here’s an overview of Sunrise’s integrated smarts:

• Gyroscope and accelerometer
• RGB LEDs
• Bluetooth
• Microphone and speakers

Not only does the Sunrise Smart Pillow promise to track movement with built-in sensors, its color-changing LEDs are supposed to help you wake up in the morning. The speakers can play nature sounds or white noise to help you fall asleep — and music to get you ready for your day.

Mode Modern’s smart alarm is also designed to wake you “in your lightest phase of sleep.” Review your sleep score in the related app and listen to audio recordings taken during periods of interrupted sleep to help identify the disturbance.

I’m intrigued by the Sunrise Pillow, but Mode Modern’s Kickstarter page doesn’t mention any major smart home platforms. Sleep Number’s smart mattress works with Nest and Fitbit and Cambridge Sound Management’s Nightingale works with Alexa and IFTTT. Sunrise’s lack of partnerships could potentially hurt its broader appeal in the smart home market.

Of course, Sunrise is still in the prototype stage. Mode Modern’s first production smart pillows are supposed to ship to Kickstarter backers worldwide in October. Expect Sunrise pillows to retail for $299/£230/AU$400 each after the crowdfunding campaign ends.

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