Silk LED bulbs mimic natural sunlight

Did you know that our well-being and mood throughout the day is largely influenced by the light we’re exposed to? With this fact in mind, start-up company Saffron developed a prototype of an LED light that can sync our internal clocks to the natural shifting color spectrum of the sun.

Called Silk, the designers of the bulb claim it can improve our performances and sleep patterns by giving us the right kind of light for each time of the day. The programmable LED bulbs emit light that’s tailored to the user’s internal circadian rhythm, or, our physical, mental, and behavioral changes over the course of a 24-hour cycle in response to light and darkness. Although this is what evolution has programmed us to do, artificial lights, including digital screens, have disrupted that balance.

The Silk LED can improve our performances and sleep patterns. Image via Gizmag.

What makes the Silk bulb different from other LEDs is that it will give you energy-boosting blue light in the daytime, and warm light in the evening to help you wind down and have more restorative sleep. And, setting it up is easy: all it takes is plugging in a bridge circuit and setting up Wi-Fi details (it uses the Zigbee protocol). The system is set to sync with local sun movement information online, and automatically adjusts to the lighting to suit the user’s needs.

Better yet, an existing light switch can be used to control the Silk bulb, with no modification required, thanks to a feature called nClick, where the number of clicks on the switch tells the light what to do. With one click, the user activates the normal bulb function, two clicks will change the color temperature, and three clicks can set it to fade off over time.

Check out the video below to see the Silk LED bulb in action.

The accompanying Silk Light app is compatible with iOS and Android, and allows advanced control by enabling the user to create their own zone-based schedules and switch behaviors to meet the lighting needs of a particular situation, such as appropriate lighting for a dinner party or a workout session.

To help with funding, the Silk Light team launched a Kickstarter campaign to manufacture the LED lightbulb. Currently, the early package of three Silk bulbs plus one Silk bridge is available for a pledge of $99. Estimated delivery is set to start in January 2016.

Source: Gizmag