A Cambridge-based robotics consultancy has teamed up with another tech firm in the city to work on the first-ever sleep-sensing headphones.

Robotae (www.robotae.com has designed the electronics architecture for headphone maker Kokoon (kokoon.io).

The Bluetooth headphones use an electro-encephalography sensor to monitor electrical signals from brain neurons, then reduce the volume of music as the wearer drifts off to sleep.

They have proved popular on the Kickstarter crowd-funding platform, where the company has raised $2 million and pre-sold 10,000 units.

Kevin Rathbone, founder and CEO of Robotae, said his company develops systems that respond intelligently to changes in their environment.

“Processors, sensors and actuators are becoming faster, smaller and cheaper. They are also more power-efficient, and this is making it more feasible to incorporate mechatronics in a wider range of portable consumer products. This has coincided with advances in artificial intelligence and the development of new robotic safety standards.

“These sleep-sensing headphones are a great concept with enormous potential, so I was keen to get involved. By the time Kokoon had recruited a permanent electronics engineer, I had developed their ‘proof of concept’ into an architecture suitable for product development, significantly extended the battery life, and designed a development PCB to allow the team to experiment with various hardware options and begin embedded software development.”

Robotae exhibited a number of its projects at the Engineering Design Show, in Coventry.

You can also check an interesting article on headphones at Spriee (www.spriee.com/best-buy/best-studio-headphones.