For the snooze kings and queens of the world, an even more annoying alarm clock is a must. Well, here's a droid with a "hilarious personality" that looks like it needs a good kick.
Tim-e is an iPhone dock with arms and legs. It wriggles and dances and is generally annoying. But that's the whole point.
The subject of a Kickstarter campaign that's aiming for $150,000, Tim-e (pronounced "Timmy") uses your iPhone screen as an animated face.
In the promo video below, it has a blue, animated mug and puts on a snarky routine. It recalls the genie from Disney's "Aladdin."
While charging your iPhone or iPod, Tim-e can wake you up (thankfully it has a "progressive" alarm), play tunes from your music library, tell you the weather or traffic conditions, record voice reminders, and challenge you with brain teasers.
Of course, you can swap Tim-e's face for any photo you like and it will say anything the bot is programmed to say.
The campaign, organized by California-based startup Nuts and Voltz, is offering the robot to early backers for $60, with delivery expected in January.
We've seen plenty of other iPhone robots, but Tim-e might be perfect for kids and people who can't drag themselves out of bed in the morning. I hope it's made of sturdy plastic so it can survive the inevitable assaults from tots and snoozers.