As someone who cannot be woken up by traditional alarm clocks, and who had some newly discovered free time on her hands after having graduated, I set out to build an alarm clock that would simply brighten up my room in an effort to force me out of bed.
The alarm clock will be composed of an LED light board which the sleeper may place above his or her head, such that the light will interfere with their ability to sleep (for me, I will basically keep this under my pillow with me as I sleep with a feathery pillow over my head every night). This light board has a microcontroller and bluetooth controller attached to it.
The sleeper must install a new Alarm Clock app, which allows them to choose their time to rise. Your phone may then connect to the light board. When the alarm goes off, a message is sent to the light board at which point it lights up -- hopefully waking the sleeper!