Our first project is Tombi: a small voice-first pendant and a phone app, being developed to help older adults keep everyday plans and routines on track. Say it once, in your own words. Tombi confirms it and reminds you, out loud, at the right moment.
Tombi — concept render; the production pendant will differ
“Hey Tombi, remind me to call Mina tomorrow afternoon about Sunday lunch.”
You're in the garden; the phone is indoors. Tombi says back what it heard — “Tomorrow at one, call Mina about Sunday lunch. Is that right?” — and saves it only when you say yes.
Working on our prototypes
“It's one o'clock. You wanted to call Mina about Sunday lunch.”
Reminders are spoken by the pendant you're already wearing — medication, the bus, a visitor at three. No phone to find, no notification to miss. Everything is also in the app if you want to look.
Working on our prototypes
“Daniel's birthday is Friday. Want to pick up a card on the way home tomorrow?”
Tombi learns your routines and, if you want it to, offers a small suggestion now and then — and later asks whether it helped. Suggestions are tied to things you said you wanted, offered rarely, and easy to switch off.
In testing — opt-inExample scenarios with invented names. Getting started takes one short conversation with Tombi about your routines — a few minutes, no forms.
Concept render · prototype enclosure differs
The pendant hangs on a cord and listens only for its name. The app on your phone is where plans live and settings are set — by you, or by whoever helps you set it up.
Today — is Tombi working, and what's next.
Plans — only what Tombi confirmed with you.
Sharing — three switches, and you see exactly what Mina sees.
Illustrative screens with sample data. The app we are testing looks plainer than this.
These commitments come from our Ethics and Privacy Charter, written before the first line of product code. The plain-language version is on our privacy page today.
One press mutes the microphones; the light shows whether Tombi is off, waiting for its name, or listening — for you and for the people around you.
What you say is processed to understand it, then discarded. Tombi keeps the plan you confirmed, not the recording. Other people's voices are never used to identify them.
A medication instruction or a doctor's name is saved only after you confirm it, word for word.
A daily “all is well”, your plans, your location — each on or off separately, for each person. Conversations are never shared. Turning sharing off never turns Tombi off.
Declining a suggestion is the end of it. Tombi does not argue, repeat itself, or tell anyone.
See it, export it or erase it whenever you like. We will publish exactly what stays on the pendant, what the phone does and what reaches our servers before anyone is asked to pay.
Founder
Paul runs Endominance, a behavioural-assessment company, and CAAP Academy, a small school in Vienna, Virginia. Tombi grew out of years of work on how people actually change their habits — and out of watching older relatives manage full lives with tools that were not made for them.
Co-founder
Ryan works alongside Paul on Tombi's product and business, and on getting the first pendants into real homes.
We work with a research partner on the baseline assessment and with contract engineers on hardware and firmware. Write to hello@chamomilelab.com — a person answers.
Updated October 2026
Next: second-generation hardware, fifty devices for real-user testing in homes, then pre-sale. Target for first shipments: spring 2027 — a target, not a promise.
We plan to open pre-sale for the first 1,000 pendants in early 2027. People on this list hear first — with the full price, the ongoing service terms and what we learned in real-user testing — before anyone is asked to pay.
Would you rather try Tombi at home first? We are recruiting a small group of wearers for a four-to-six-week home trial in 2027. Write to hello@chamomilelab.com.
We have not settled the price. Pre-sale customers will pay less for the pendant and get the first year of service included; the full device price, the year-two service cost and what happens if you cancel will be published before pre-sale opens. Nothing on this page is an offer.
No. Tombi does not call for help or contact emergency services, and it is not a medical device. It helps with plans and routines.
The pendant talks to the Tombi app over Bluetooth, and understanding what you say needs the phone and an internet connection. We are testing reminders that the pendant keeps itself, so they still fire when the phone is in another room.
Install the app, pair the pendant, then have one short conversation with Tombi about your days — a few minutes, no forms. A family member or friend can help with the phone part; the conversation is yours.
It listens for its name. Only after “Hey Tombi” does it process what you say, and that audio is used to understand you, then discarded. One press mutes it completely, and a light shows which state it is in.
Only what you choose to share: a daily “all is well”, your plans, or your location — each switched on or off separately, per person. Conversations are never shared. You see exactly what they see.
Suggestions are off unless you turn them on, are tied to things you said you wanted, and are offered rarely. “No” is the end of it.
Our target for first shipments is spring 2027, after fifty second-generation pendants have been worn in real homes. That is a target, not a confirmed date; we will not take payment until we can commit to one.
Most of what AI offers today is convenience, and it quietly changes what we remember and what we stop doing for ourselves. We started Chamomile Lab to use the same technology differently: to learn a person's own routines and intentions, help at the right moment, and check afterwards whether the help made any difference. Tombi is where we are starting.