Kickstarter has paved the way for a number of new and innovative technologies by allowing budding inventors to receive the funding they need through pledges.
Projects, such as Pebble's Pebble Time watch, Grepper's Coolest Cooler, the BauBax jacket and the OUYA video game consoles, received millions of dollars' worth of funds from people who believed in their potential for success.
Now, a new batch of startup projects has been fielded through Kickstarter by developers who need the support of sympathetic fans. Here are the top 10 experimental concepts to watch out for in the next few months.
Auroma - Never Make Bad Coffee Again
A product of the Auroma Brewing Company, the Auroma One is a beverage machine designed to make coffee making in the morning simpler and more convenient for drinkers.
Ornicha Srimokla, co-founder of Auroma, explained that their coffee machine will benefit two main types of coffee drinkers: those who place emphasis on the consistency of their coffee and those who want to try out different flavor profiles.
She said the Auroma One allows these people to learn and control the different elements needed in the making of a good cup of coffee without having to sacrifice convenience.
One of the primary features of the Auroma One is its personalization setting, which lets users adjust the bitterness, texture and caffeine kick of every cup of coffee. This is done through the Auroma Coffee smartphone app where people rate each aspect of the coffee mixture.
Once the user's responses have been interpreted by the machine, it would then tailor the next cup to match the input preferences.The Auroma One also has a "tasting flight" functionality that allows users to experiment with different flavors for their coffee.
Users can choose to have three varying types of coffee in three individual shots, or have one type of coffee brewed in three different ways. This feature encourages coffee lovers to discover their favorite brewing methods and roast flavors.
YoCam - The Smallest Waterproof Camera for All Your Needs
YoCam, Mofily's pocketsized camera, was created to give more established brands, such as GoPro and DropCam, a run for their money.
As the makers of the device put it, the YoCam is the smallest and lightest waterproof life camera in the world. Despite its small size, the YoCam is one tough camera with an IP68 rating. Its waterproof design allows users to use the device at water depths of up to 20 feet.
This camera is powerful enough to capture 4 MP and 8 MP photographs and 2.7K resolution videos at 30 frames per second. It also has burst shot, delayed shot, time lapse and slow motion features to match the user's need for action shots.
The YoCam also comes with different image and video processing technologies such as high-dynamic range imaging (HDR), P2P remote internet connection and Mofily's signature MoSteady stabilization technology.
PINE A64 - First $15 64-Bit Single Board Super Computer
Tech group PINE64 Inc. is all about making high-performance computers more affordable to the masses. This is why they created the PINE64, an expandable single board computer (SBC) that provides users with a versatile CPU at a reasonable price.
The PINE64 comes with a quad-core ARM A53 64-bit processor capable of running at 1.2GHz and a dual-core MALI-400 MP2 (500MHz) graphics processor that provides a 1.1 Gpixel/s throughput.
Both the PINE A64 and PINE A64+ come with two USB ports, HDMI output, ethernet port, two I/O expansion buses and a 3.5mm Audio/Mic Output.
As an open source platform, users can use their PINE64 CPU with any operating system such as Ubuntu, Android or openHAB IoT.
µPeek - The Professional Microscope that Fits in Your Wallet
Billed as the first smartphone microscope, the µPeek is a device that offers a new take on mobile phone photography.
Using its Swiss-army-knife-like set of lens, the µPeek gives iPhone or Android smartphone cameras with magnification power similar to a real microscope.
Depending on the user's need, the device can be set to 40x, 80x, 160x or even 320x magnifications using an accompanying app.
FLUXO - The World's First Truly Smart Lamp
If you're looking to create the ideal ambience for your home, then FLUXO might just be what you need. This smartphone-controlled pendant lamp allows users to adjust the lighting in rooms to match their mood.
The FLUXO's single LED fixture has the lighting power comparable to four smart LED bulbs of other lamps, allowing it to illuminate even large rooms. Its fully controllable uplight and downlight gives users the flexibility to place lighting in different directions.
This smart lamp makes use of high-quality white LEDs that can be adjusted for warm or cool lighting. It also comes with red, green, and blue LEDs for its uplight, giving the ceiling a range of color moods.
Zafirro - The $100,000 Sapphire Blade Razor
Zafirro Inc., the makers of the Zafirro razor, may have just answered one of the biggest needs of man-finding a good razor.
According to the company's Kickstarter page, the Zafirro makes use of the hardness and durability of the gemstone sapphire to create a blade that stays sharp for longer periods compared to the ones used in typical razors.
The sharpened tip of the sapphire razor measures at about 80 atoms, making it 10 times sharper that the scalpels used by surgeons.
The durability of the Zafirro razor allows for six to 12 months of use, lessening the wastage of disposable razors that end up in landfills every year.
LifePrint - Print Photos That Come To Life in Your Hands
LifePrint is a photography system that allows users to produce augmented reality images and print them using a portable device.
Its accompanying smartphone app links to photographs and videos on the user's social media accounts and arranges them for easy access.
Using LifePrint's signature Hyperphoto technology, images are embedded with a video clip, which adds an augmented reality feature to the photographs when printed.
Revols - Premium Quick Custom-Fit Wireless Earphones
People who love listening to music on their tablets or smartphones know how difficult it can be to find a good pair of earphones that fit their ears properly. Custom pairs often take a long time to be made and they can cost about $1,000 a pair.
Revols' selling point is that it offers music lovers the chance to get a fully-customizable pair of earphones at a fraction of the price of other brands. The secret is the earphones' shaped molding tip that makes use of a nanocomposite material in an ergonomic design to fit any size of ear.
Users only need to press the button on the Revols app to activate the device's self-molding process, which allows the earphones to take on the form of the user's ears.
Thimble - Learn & Build Electronics with Monthly Delivered Kits
Inventors David Brenner and Oscar Pedroso's wants Thimble to promote creativity in people and let them build electronic projects at the comfort of their own homes.
By delivering designs and electronic components directly to subscribers' homes on a monthly basis, Brenner and Pedroso hope to teach adults and children how to create a device that can be fun and useful at the same time.
Thimble's first project features a design for a Wi-Fi-enabled robot that users can control using a smartphone, tablet or laptop.
Fleye - Your Personal Flying Robot
The makers of Fleye believe that there are a lot of design problems behind traditional drones, which is why they decided to come up with one that is safer, more robust and easier to use. The result is an autonomous flying robot in a spherical design that has all its moving parts shielded in its body.
The update in the classic drone design allows Fleye to hover around more robustly even when it bumps into other objects. People can also hold, touch, or push the drone without the risk of injury as all of its potentially-dangerous parts, such as its propellers, are no longer exposed.
Fleye features an on-board computer that allows it to execute autonomous tasks given to it through a smartphone app.
The drone can carry out a Selfie mission, which has the device back up to a given distance, capture an image and hover back to the user, and a Panorama mission, which has the device to hover at a given altitude and rotate itself while capturing a 360-degree panoramic shot.
