Virgin Media introduces sleep activated TV remote
Virgin Media is hoping to catch its competitors napping by being first to market with a sleep activated TV remote, designed to pause and record television when the viewer falls asleep on the couch.
KipstR takes the form of a smart wristband which monitors the pulse of the wearer and is the btrainchild of teenagers Ryan Oliver, 15, and Jonathan Kingley, 14 - who were commissioned as part of Virgin Media’s digital skills programme.
Oliver commented: “There was some research which showed that people missed 50 million hours of TV last year when they fell asleep. We were trying to solve that problem.”
Virgin harbours high hopes for the device, which it says could monitor the wearers emotional response to programmes and control other household appliances, such as central heating.
Following their success the pair are now hard at work on a follow-up gadget for drivers, designed to bring vehicles to a halt when the driver begins to nod off.