Cribby: Armenian software developers unveil smart cradle (photos)

This multi-functional cradle, powered by modern technologies, can replace parents in their physical absence to attend to infants, addressing their urgent needs.

Cribby is managed through a specially designed smartphone application allowing the in-built camera to monitor the newborn by fixing movements and noises with the help of special sensors. It also has a unique fairytale app to read babies to sleep, as well as air temperature and humidity measurement, and room lighting functions. Additionally, there is a pre-installed virtual table which can also serve as a baby-scale.

The author of the idea, Gor Shahbazyan, says he came up with the idea after his first child’s birth in 2014 to facilitate the newborn’s care by combining technology with design.

The plan was translated to reality thanks to three-months' intensive collaborative work with a team of colleagues.

“Initially, the cradle received very diverse interpretations, with some insisting that the smart bed would distance the child from parents. But we are now focused on offering aid to those parents who cannot afford the time to be next to their children every single second. Parents are no longer obliged to purchase a variety of devices to arrange at the bedside; that’s a key advantage,” he told Tert.am.  

The smart device will also allow parents to play music and audiobooks for babies. “We have collected and recorded lullabies of different world countries, adjusting them specially to Cribby. So the child will from very early ages get acquainted with different countries’ cultures. From the point of view of marketing, it will be tailored to the global market so that different countries’ consumers purchasing [the smart bed] can find their national melody already integrated into the software system,” Gor explained.

Cribby was developed by a 10-member team of designers, software engineers and musicians.

The authors used only organic materials to build the device, says Sergey Navasardyan, the art director of the project.

“A combination of organic materials and woods was used to assemble the bed, which is very warm and very comfortable for the baby,” he noted.

The software team is now doing security maintenance work to safeguard the device against hacker attacks and ensure protection of personal data.

The authors are also planning a crowdfunding campaign that will involve largely advertisement platforms. The massive production is scheduled to start in the second half of 2018. No information about the price is available for now. The target market will include the countries recording traditionally high birth rates. The application will be accessible for Android and iOS.