Skip to content
Logo

Hackaday

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Hackaday.io
  • Tindie
  • Contests
  • Submit
  • About

Unusual

1 Articles

Haptic Clock Lets You Keep Your Eyes Shut At Night

September 27, 2019 by Erin Pinheiro 37 Comments

Picture this: You’re in your bed in the middle of the night, and you want to know what time it is. Bedside alarm clocks are a thing of the past and now you rely on your smartphone to tell the time. Only, if you turned the screen on, you’d find that looking at it in the dark is tantamount to staring at the sun without eye protection. [Michael] pictured the same thing and his solution for this scenario is a clever haptic-feedback clock.

The idea behind it is simple, a clock from which you can tell the time without having to use your eyes. This one gives you two options for that, the first one being a series of haptic pulses that let you tell the time simply by touching the device. The second, audibly telling the time with voice samples stored in a flash chip, was added in the second revision as [Michael] continues to refine his design. In addition to helping us assess the time in the dark, it’s also worth noting that this could be useful for those with visual impairments as well.

Until we can see the final product, you can help him out looking over the designs and sending pull requests over at the project’s GitHub page, or just watch his progress in the Hackaday.io page. We’ve seen some interesting ways to tell the time before, from a game of Tetris to a clock housed inside the shell of an old-school camera flash, but we’ve never seen one that uses haptic feedback before. We hope for the sake of our eyes that it catches on!

The HackadayPrize2019 is Sponsored by:

Supplyframe

Digi-Key

Microchip
Posted in clock hacks, The Hackaday PrizeTagged 2019 Hackaday Prize, accessibility, accessible, clock, haptic, haptic feedback, Unusual

Search

Never miss a hack

Follow on facebook Follow on twitter Follow on youtube Follow on rss Contact us

Subscribe

If you missed it

  • Australia’s Space Program Finally Gets Off The Pad, But Only Barely

    33 Comments
  • What Happens When Lightning Strikes A Plane?

    22 Comments
  • Happy Birthday 6502

    104 Comments
  • Two For The Price Of One: BornHack 2024 And 2025 Badges

    No comments
  • Hands On: The Hacker Pager

    25 Comments
More from this category

Our Columns

  • The 64-Degree Egg, And Other Delicious Variants

    15 Comments
  • Jenny’s Daily Drivers: FreeDOS 1.4

    52 Comments
  • Get Your Tickets For Supercon 2025 Now!

    2 Comments
  • A Gentle Introduction To Fortran

    70 Comments
  • Hackaday Links: August 3, 2025

    17 Comments
More from this category

Search

Never miss a hack

Follow on facebook Follow on twitter Follow on youtube Follow on rss Contact us

Subscribe

If you missed it

  • Australia’s Space Program Finally Gets Off The Pad, But Only Barely

    33 Comments
  • What Happens When Lightning Strikes A Plane?

    22 Comments
  • Happy Birthday 6502

    104 Comments
  • Two For The Price Of One: BornHack 2024 And 2025 Badges

    No comments
  • Hands On: The Hacker Pager

    25 Comments
More from this category

Categories

Our Columns

  • The 64-Degree Egg, And Other Delicious Variants

    15 Comments
  • Jenny’s Daily Drivers: FreeDOS 1.4

    52 Comments
  • Get Your Tickets For Supercon 2025 Now!

    2 Comments
  • A Gentle Introduction To Fortran

    70 Comments
  • Hackaday Links: August 3, 2025

    17 Comments
More from this category

Recent comments

  • SteveS on Teardown Of A Persil Smartwash Smart Laundry Detergent Ball
  • LordNothing on Automated Rubbish Removal System
  • irox on 2025 One Hertz Challenge: An Animated Ferrofluid Display
  • John on Sparks Fly: Building A 330 KV Supply From A PC PSU
  • Keith on Happy Birthday 6502
  • AbraKadabra on Jenny’s Daily Drivers: FreeDOS 1.4
  • Antron Argaiv on 2025 One Hertz Challenge: The Easy Way To Make A Nixie Tube Clock
  • Antron Argaiv on A Repeater For WWVB
  • Keith on Happy Birthday 6502
  • Antron Argaiv on A Gentle Introduction To Fortran
Logo
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Hackaday.io
  • Tindie
  • Video
  • Submit A Tip
  • About
  • Contact Us

Never miss a hack

Follow on facebook Follow on twitter Follow on youtube Follow on rss Contact us

Subscribe to Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 | Hackaday, Hack A Day, and the Skull and Wrenches Logo are Trademarks of Hackaday.com | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Digital Services Act
Powered by WordPress VIP

By using our website and services, you expressly agree to the placement of our performance, functionality and advertising cookies. Learn more