TrueMe Pebbles
Rob Middleton created a self help stress & anxiety reduction device for those who suffer with anxiety or other panic issues.
Product type:Wellness
The brief
Labour Cabinet member for Resources, Rob Middleton has tackled and wrangled with his severe panic attacks and anxiety for over 10 years. He tells a story of spending a lot of his wealth on mental health support across a range of spectrums. Although mental health support is great at a weekly appointment, giving you tools and resources to help manage your mental health, Rob identified a need to have immediate support at hand whenever he felt himself being overwhelmed by his anxiety.
Cllr Rob Middleton approached several traditional invention consultancies in the UK and abroad, however, he felt that they were either phenomenally expensive or not interested in his idea at all, especially when they found out he wasn’t backed with private equity investment or unlimited personal funds. This left Rob in a difficult position, he knew he had an idea that he could revolutionise self help for people with similar conditions to his, but the support he needed in order to turn his invention into a reality, wasn’t forthcoming, until he found LastBasic.
When instructing the product invention experts at LastBasic Rob let them know he wanted to revolutionise the daunting, medicalised industry of health tech with a prototype that was not only aesthetically pleasing, but also functional and easier to consume for the average customer.
The whole solution revolved around Bilateral Alternating Stimulation Therapy, an artificial method of stimulating different activities within the brain. Rob had come up with the idea of mimicking the human brain’s natural calming mechanism via a handheld device. He had ascertained that the human brain’s natural rhythmic tap it uses in order to calm itself down could be mimicked this with a device, triggering a calming effect and reducing the severity of panic and anxiety.
With mental health issues becoming ever more apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic, he realised he needed a quick route to developing his prototype to help and support as many people as possible in their time of need and is certain of the positive impact it will have on people dealing with all levels of anxiety.
The solution
Rob worked with the experts at LastBasic to develop his product, The Pebbles, a self help, handheld stress and anxiety reduction device for those that suffer from anxiety or panic attacks.
The wireless devices were ergonomically designed to comfortably fit in the users hands in such a way that even holding them alone promoted a reduction in anxiety.
During the process some challenges needed to be resolved, including how the devices were to be charged when not in use. With the help of the Last Basic prototype inventors, they developed a wireless docking station which ensured the pebbles could be fully charged with an auto shutoff to prevent overheating or overcharging. The aesthetics of the docking station were designed to compliment the premium look and feel of the Pebbles, whilst taking into consideration that the device user could be in a state of stress, so forgoing wires and physical connections in favour of wireless charging.
When removed from the dock and in use the devices would be powered from the internal battery pack, but when no longer in use they needed to automatically shut off in order to preserve battery life, again, taking into account that someone under mental pressure from anxiety or stress would be more likely to forget switching them off when trying to calm down.
The charging dock will not allow the pebble to overcharge. Once fully charged the Device shuts off to save power.
Small and compact design allows users to carry the pebble with them on the go.
Designed perfectly to fit into the users hand to help reduce stress and anxiety.
The results...
The Pebbles have already received significant press attention despite not being in commercial production with an understanding that the final product will receive more positive attention from those in need of greater support as well as advocates for affordable mental health solutions.
From his first enquiry to the completion of the final prototype only 352 days had passed with involvement from 24 experts across the Last Basic platform, all assisting or pitching to be involved with the idea.
Pros
- Colour and material to compliment the finish of the Stress Reduction Pebble Project.
- The expected size of the device will be: medium, contained in a cube of 20 cm (8 in) side.
- The charging device should not allow the pebbles to be overcharged. When the pebbles are placed on the charging dock, the pebbles should start charging.
- This device will operate in a: domestic environment.
- Has following attributes: Elegant Design; high quality finish; consistent with Pebble Project.
What our Inventors say...
LastBasic has a professional and efficient team who I’ve thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with. Every contact point I’ve had with them has been great, they make inventors feel part of a community and truly believe that your idea is worth it. I appreciate their honesty, and their broad global network of experts who have worked hard to make my idea a reality.
LastBasic are a highly professional and approachable team, which makes them stand out to me. The payment process has been quite flexible, and I’ve saved tens of thousands of pounds by using LastBasic over an engineering consultancy. The latter just don’t cater to individuals who want to bring forward a solution. LastBasic was a much better choice. They help you to work out your own solutions in an empowering way.
LASTBASIC is the answer to inventors who are not engineers. The kind of people who dream of turning their ideas into tangible projects and don’t know how to. LastBasic offers us a simple and very straightforward way of developing our product offering us full control over the product dev process.
See our latest projects delivered in the last 6 months
Over 2000 community members
