Misfit Shine Designer Creates A Smart Measuring Pen

Technology is giving a new spin on the things we most rely on daily: watches, phones, payments but one object has stayed the same: tape measure. This basic measuring tool hadn’t reached its full potential until designer Mladen Barbaric put its mind to it. The brain behind Misfit Shine’s design and a number of other objects has come up with a multi-purpose pen whose main function is to measure precisely both curved and straight surfaces #objectmagic

Barbaric envisioned a pen whose tip could be easily replaced to work as a pencil or stylus and whose body would finish in a black, rubber wheel. InstruMMent 01 was born this way and its small wheel is a dream made reality. Just roll it over to measure both curved and flat surfaces. Embedded sensors show the distance travelled on a companion app, in 0.1mm increments.

There is also a laser at the tip of the roller that gives you visual cues about the direction of the measuring process. As the designer explains, this tool is elegant, small enough to fit your pocket and laptop bag and useful to write notes as you take measurements. Don’t worry – you also have digital help on your smartphone. There, the measured object appears with a description while the measurements can be easily converted from imperial units to metric. Also, you can see the real-world measurements of a scaled distance on a map or even a drawing (if you’re working from blueprints).

InstruMMent 0.1 is crowdfunding now on IndieGogo. Price starts from $149.