Japan finds its own unique cure for snoring: A robotic bear that flips you over as you sleep.
Many people who live with a partner
who snores are willing to try anything to end the torment - nasal
strips, inhalers, and even pyjamas with tennis balls sewn into the back.Naturally, the Japanese were not content with such low-tech solutions to the problem.


A
research group from Waseda University has come up a robotic bear that
flips over people's heads in their sleep to open their airways.
The bear is used as a pillow, but has a built-in microphone.
As
soon as Jukusui-kun detects a loud snore, his paw reaches up (gently,
at least in the brief video demo on display), and pushes the sleeper's
head to one side.The
motion should push sufferers of sleep apnoea - the loud form of snoring
that can be dangerous not only to relationships but to health - into a
position where they no longer snore.
The bear was shown off at the
International Robot Show in Japan. Jukusui-kun means 'deep sleep' - and
the robot is targeted specifically at snorers whose snoring inhibits
their blood oxygen level, with a separate hand monitor sensing when
blood oxygen levels drop.
The only problem is that not only do
they have to sleep on a bear-shaped pillow with jointed robotic hands,
they also have to insert their hand into another bear-shaped monitor
which monitors blood oxygen.Monitors are also built into the sheet under the sleeper - the idea being that electrical cords would disturb sleep.


The
bear waits until low blood oxygen and loud snores indicate that the
person sleeping on Jukusui-kun is snoring loudly, then the paw strikes.The
bear is not yet on sale - and whether or not a robotic paw reaching up
to turn one's head over is any more effective than one's partner shoving
the person across the duvet remains to be seen.