So, you utilised the team’s existing knowledge, but there was a certain moment that ultimately made you settle on an alarm clock. Is that right?
Tamori:
Well… The motion sensor used in this device detects a sleeper’s movements, and there are certain body movements that they make just before waking up. From an early stage, we thought that if we could get this sensor to detect the timing of these movements, people could use it to help themselves wake up feeling refreshed. But it was technologically quite difficult for the sensor to detect those movements accurately enough back then, so we continued experimenting for a while.
Then, our programmers found a way to use the sensor effectively, and there was a point when its responsiveness improved dramatically. They developed a system that detects approximately where a person is on a bed based on the distance and angle measured by the sensor. This made it possible for the sensor to capture the moment a person gets in or out of bed more accurately. It was at this time that we started discussing the possibility of developing an alarm clock that automatically stops as soon as a person gets out of bed.
Akama:
From the early days of the project, we considered implementing a feature to wake yourself up, such as an alarm that stops around 10 seconds after you get out of bed or when you move your body. Although those were all useful features, we weren’t sure if they’d be enjoyable or satisfying, unfortunately. Back then, there were no game characters appearing on the screen. The time remaining until the alarm turns off was simply displayed on an on-screen bar, so you had to look at the screen to see the time remaining. Also, it would take a while for the alarm to stop even after you got out of bed. So, there were many challenges.
Then, as programmers made technical improvements, such as the enhanced sensor accuracy mentioned earlier, we started coming up with more and more ideas to make it fun and responsive. These included sound effects that go up in pitch when you move your body, or a fanfare that plays the moment you get out of bed. It was around this time that we finally began to feel that we could create a new product in the form of an alarm clock.
Tamori:
When creating hardware from scratch, as long as you can establish the technology that supports your idea, the functions you can implement are, in a sense, unlimited, so you can do all sorts of things. We even tried to detect whether a person is starting to sit up in bed to determine if they’re awake.
Akama:
Yeah, we tried things like detecting arm movements, dividing the bed’s area into left and right to detect the direction you roll over, and making the alarm stoppable by stretching. Basically, we kept making various prototypes. During the trial-and-error process, the knowledge and expertise of the staff who were involved in the early stages of motion sensor development were very useful. For example, we took advantage of ideas such as “stopping a device without touching it” and “reacting to body movements” in the final product.
Tamori:
We were so fixated on the idea of not touching the device that there was a time when we challenged ourselves to make the user interface, such as setting the alarm time and music, controllable with hand gestures. Gesture controls made things a bit cumbersome, so we nipped that in the bud. (Laughs)
Akama:
Oh yeah, that was such a hassle. (Laughs) But we really did go through a lot of trial and error.
Continue to Chapter 2: The challenges of cross-functional development
[This article originally appeared on Nintendo UK]
