Funny Alarm Clocks: Clocky and Tocky

From the picture you may not realize it, but Tocky the alarm clock is curved like a ball on the side opposite the clock face. Why do I mention this fact straight up? Well, if you can get the image of a ball in your head, you can glimpse how Tocky operates.

Your alarm goes off at 6 a.m., for example. Reach out your hand to turn it off, and the clock rolls away, bouncing off your bedside table and rolling around the floor. The alarm doesn't stop. In fact, with Tocky, you may even have programmed a message that talks to you, cajoling you to get up. You actually have to get out of bed to turn the alarm off.

Bingo! Out of bed and on the way to really waking up. 

Not only can you program Tocky to speak to you, you can also download your mp3 player into it so you can be awakened with your favorite songs. 

Now that's getting interesting! 

Tocky Runaway Alarm Clock with MP3 - Kiwi

Clocky was the first alarm clock made by Nanda Home, Inc. As you can see in the picture, Clocky has wheels. It can jump three feet from your bedside table and wheel along your floor, playing a game of hide and seek. Most of the customers from Amazon report that Clocky had no trouble manoeuvring around their bedrooms, even those who had plush carpets.

This clock tickles my funny bone. It looks and behaves much like R2D2 from Star Wars. I think anyone who has trouble getting up in the morning will find that this little fella can provide a pretty good solution. If you don't get too annoyed with it, Clocky may even get you laughing first thing, which is a great way to start the day.

Clocky Alarm Clock On Wheels, Aqua

              Besides the pictured aqua, red, black, and chrome, Clocky also comes in blue,    

              raspberry, and pink!

Nanda Homes is the manufacturer of the Clocky and Tocky Alarm Clocks. What began as an assignment for a course has since won many awards and has sold world wide.

Gauri Nanda, a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, invented Clocky as an assignment for her industrial design class. Her first attempt, which she took three days to build, was clothed in shag carpet to look as cute as a pet. The current sleeker model has Star Wars overtones and is still described by those who use it as "adorable," if sometimes annoying.  Tocky is a newer version with a microphone for recording wake-up messages and music. There's a third model, called Ticky, with a digital analogue face.

So, you see, assignment challenges can really evolve into something that solves problems in people's lives and even can become financial success stories. It's true, Gauri Nanda was a student at MIT and so had a great deal of talent to begin with, but there's no reason other young talented people cannot make serious attempts to create a product that solves a problem. 

Do you think Gauri has trouble getting out of bed herself? Or maybe it's a family member whom she got tired of calling in the morning yet again.

I suppose these alarm clocks would be fun as a gift and would appeal to my sense of play, but I'm not sure whether or not I would enjoy being woken up this way. I tend to get up without a whole lot of trouble, but if getting up on time became an issue, I think I would give them a try.

In fact, I can think of a few hard-to-wake-up types in my family who could benefit from the experience. I'm thinking of these alarm clocks as a Christmas gift for one of them.

What about you? Can you think of someone who'd enjoy Clocky or Tocky? Please leave a message below to share your thoughts.