A few blocks from Faunce Arch, some recent Brown alums are in the final stages of developing a product that will wake you up for your 9 a.m. class and guarantee you'll feel alert. Now in their third year of working on the sophisticated alarm clock, "SleepSmart," the alums behind Axon Sleep Research Laboratories, located on Waterman Street, are gearing up to put their company's product on the market.
The SleepSmart headband senses your brain waves, detects your sleep cycles and wirelessly communicates with a high-tech alarm clock to wake you up at the best time possible - a light sleep stage - within 20 or 30 minutes of the set wakeup time. As for the product's appearance, James Donahue '05, Axon's director of business development, said it is "a third of the size of a normal headband that is as sleek and stylish as it can be."
So what's the catch? It may set you back $299 to $399, according to Axon Labs' Web site. Donahue said it's like investing in an iPod, only this product wakes you up refreshed in the morning.
Donahue and the other Brown alums have made a lot of progress since a casual conversation first inspired Axon President Eric Shashoua '04.5 to develop SleepSmart in 2004. When a friend complained to Shashoua that waking up tired had caused her to do poorly on an exam, he realized how helpful an alarm clock that wakes its user up rested could be.
Now perfecting their product, Axon's self-described "all-star team of Brown alumni" declined to give a release date or any further details about the alarm clock. Shashoua and Donahue indicated there may be more news this September. Hinting at future developments, Donahue said SleepSmart is just the beginning of a series of products in the works at Axon Labs.
"Quite frankly the current product is not half as exciting as the other stuff that is out there," Donahue said.
After an initial wave of press coverage about SleepSmart, the Axon founders have kept product details under wraps. They created a prototype and performed engineering trials at Rhode Island Hospital under the supervision of Professor of Medicine Richard Millman, director of the hospital's Sleep Disorder Center. But all changes since have remained secret.
The young company has not published any proof of its product's efficacy, but that hasn't stopped prospective customers from committing in advance to shell out a few hundred dollars for the headband. Several hundred people have already reserved a SleepSmart on Axon Labs' Web site, Donahue said.
The company attributes its early success to extensive media coverage - ranging from the BBC to Reuters News Service - and the leadership of entrepreneur David Barone and two Brown alums, Terri Alpert '85 and Jeffrey Stibel MA '99, who serve as Axon's board of directors.
Axon has already garnered several awards, including a grant from the Slater Center for Design and Manufacturing. Last year the Axon team won the Entrepreneurship Program Elevator Pitch Competition and is currently a finalist for the $100,000 prize in the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition.
They may be out of school, but working at Axon Labs doesn't mean they have abandoned the sleep-deprived existence of undergrads. Donahue said they work long hours similar to the ones they put in back at Brown to make their entrepreneurial venture successful. He described Axon Engineer Paolo DePetrillo '04 as "the biggest brain of the company. He doesn't sleep ever."
"We want this company to create value for people," Shashoua said. "We think there is a lot of technology out there, and we can do a lot of things that seem like science fiction. (Axon's future products are) like something out of Star Trek."
