Liverant and his colleagues at Joynout were inspired by a trip to Hong Kong, where they found that it is common for people to fall asleep in public places.

"In almost every corner in town, toward noon time, you could see locals having a short nap," says Assaf Israel, CEO of Joynout. "Whether it was on a bench in the park, inside a public library, on the bus, on the metro - or even cleaning workers who fell asleep on the floor they just finished cleaning - I was pretty amazed by how easy it was for them to fall asleep that spontaneously in crowded public spaces, literally turning themselves off while being totally exposed."

Bonkers or genius? There's now a device that will help you nap at your desk