App-controlled “smart” bed launched at tech show

A “smart” bed that can be controlled from a smartphone or tablet has been unveiled at the Gadget Show Live.

The Balluga Bed uses cells of air to offer a unique cushioning, but the bed also contains massage and temperature modes that can be controlled via an app.

The interactive bed is one of 21 inventions being showcased as part of the British Inventors’ Project at the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham.

“It’s been a really good experience. We’ve only been here for the first part of the morning and already we’re overwhelmed with attention,” said Balluga’s Joe Katan yesterday.

At the Gadget Show at the NEC with @ballugabed. Amazing stuff - go for it Joe!! pic.twitter.com/IucSGlrHq7

— Andrew Davis 🎗️ (@andrewsdavis28) April 8, 2014

Combining the bed with an app enables users to create and control massage settings, as well as set the temperature of water that runs through the mattress to alter the temperature of the bed. It can also be synced with music files so that it pulses along with the beat.

Mr Katan said: “It’s for all age groups really, from teenage years onwards because everyone has a smartphone nowadays and everybody wants to interact with it in different ways.”

A rise in the number of smartphones in consumer hands and the general technology revolution was part of the reason he set out to create the product.

“Over the last few years I noticed there was more and more in terms of interaction and people were doing more with smartphones,” he said. “I thought ‘why have another remote control?’ Wouldn’t it be great if we could actually take all our controls with us as well once you set your bed profile?”

Among the other products on show are an artificial pancreas that can release insulin into the body, and washing-up gloves with built-in soap dispensers.