Viterbi graduate co-founds innovative alarm clock

A USC alumnus is working to reinvent the alarm clock industry through Wakē, a device that provides an individualized wake up call that doesn’t disturb the whole room.

Will Russell, a 2010 graduate of the Viterbi School of  Engineering’s mechanical engineering master’s program,  sought to fix what he saw as a common flaw in alarm clocks — if the alarm goes off in a bedroom, everyone can hear it.

And not everyone is ready to get up.

Wakē (pronounced Wakey), however, seeks to combat this. The device works through a combination of sound and light.  It is mounted above the user’s bed and uses infrared temperature sensor and body-tracking software to find the person its mean to wake up.

Then, when it’s time to rouse the user, a tight burst of light is shot at them, as well as sound in a narrow wave from a parametric speaker. The latter function certifies that only the user who wants to wake up is affected by the sound.

The project is currently being funded by a Kickstarter campaign that was launched last Tuesday. As of Monday night, the product has reached nearly half of its $100,00 goal.

Russell and his team thought about the product 18 months ago and started ordering sensors and parts from SparkFun and DigiKey, two popular electronics retailers that manufactures and sells microcontroller development boards and breakout boards.

“Surprisingly, we got some good results with the IR sensor we found on DigiKey,” Russel said. “It was a matter of time before we found this parametric speaker technology.

Wakē’s Kickstarter, which is asking to fund “some expensive injection mold tooling and buy large batches of parts at affordable prices,” has until May 30 to reach its goal.

Though Russell has graduated and is busy with his product, he said he still he comes back to campus for special events, including career fairs and recruiting events. He also enjoyed his classes at Viterbi.

“I really enjoyed the class space exploration architectures by professor Madhu Thangavelu and spacecraft design with professor Gruntman,” Russell said. “I liked these classes because [they] offered so much variety and possibility.”

Russell advises current students to be entrepreneurs and find a new and innovative way to apply their engineering abilities.

“There is no better time to be an engineer,” Russell said. “There are so many opportunities now from low-cost sensors to the prototyping tools. Don’t feel that the engineering world is confined to your curriculum.’

Russell said applying knowledge learned in the classroom is important in the professional world.

“I tell people that the engineering classes that you take at USC are like the paint,” Russell said. “You’re learning how to make the paint, and it’s up to you to go and make a painting with those colors. If you don’t paint, then all you have is a bunch of colors and you won’t be going anywhere.”

Alex Zhang, a sophomore majoring in engineering commented on his experience with startups programs through the university.

“USC offers a host of incredible startup resources ranging from resourceful classes, funding avenues through pitch competitions and outlets for inspiration by hosting many industry giants such as Mark Cuban and Aaron Levie to name a few,” Zhang said.

He further explained that larger universities make it more difficult to be all-inclusive.

“However, with the university’s very fragmented landscape between schools, it’s often difficult to foster a cohesive community that involves all inputs required to build a business: design, development and business acumen,” Zhang said. “That being said, I believe a community of entrepreneurial spirit has begun to blossom through many of the grassroots movements championed by student organizations and programs because of their genetic cross-disciplinary makeup. The more alignment between our administration and the student-run startup community, the more diverse and thus successful our Trojan startups will become.”