Makers of a gadget that keeps people connected online even when the lights go out or 3G signals drop are hoping to raise at least $125,000 on Kickstarter.com to fund its production.

Nairobi headquartered non-profit company Ushahidi -- an organisation renowned for crowdsourcing software that has helped track incidents such as post-election violence in Kenya -- has invented the rugged modem called the ‘BRCK’.

Dubbed a ‘backup generator for the internet', the ‘BRCK’ is designed to stay connected online in the more challenging corners of the globe, such as Africa and India. Ushahidi says developers or coders who move around a lot in developed cities such as San Francisco could also be users of the BRCK.

According to Ushahid’s pre-production estimates, the modems are expected to cost approximately $200 each.

Features of the BRCK include the ability to plug a SIM card into it, or connect it to wired or wireless ethernet connections. In turn, the crowdsourcing company says BRCK can connect up to 20 devices with “WiFi powerful enough to cover multiple rooms”.

Moreover, if AC power on the device fails, it falls back on an eight-hour battery life.

Other features include software on the modem that is intended to connect to the ‘BRCK Cloud’: a website that a user can access ‘anywhere’ to check how the device's network connections and electricity supplies are performing. The cloud-based system is also said to sync BRCK with data from cellular providers in the user's country.

“The BRCK was initially born out of our frustration with staying connected in places like Africa,” Philip Walton, director of software for the BRCK, told ITWeb Africa.

“While devices like MiFi work pretty well in the West, they simply cannot stand up to the abuse or requirements of developing markets,” he said.

And Ushahidi has turned to Kickstarter.com to raise funds to start manufacturing the product on a large scale.

Kickstarter is a website that helps people raise funding for the development of projects such as films, games, and music. Since its launch in 2009, Kickstarter says more than 4 million people have pledged over $599 million, funding more than 40,000 creative projects.

For those looking to spend money to help fund the BRCK project then, incentives such as a trip to meet the Ushahidi team in Nairobi exist for those willing to part with $10,000.

Meanwhile, those wishing to spend just $10 on the project are planned to be able to have their own personal mention on the BRCK online crowdmap.

Walton has told ITWeb Africa that the goal is to raise at least $150,000 for production of the BRCK. Yet if the project raises higher amounts, more features could be offered such as different colours of the device as well as pre-installed cloud service apps like DropBox.

Once the funding round is complete, plans are in place to start working on version 1.0 of the device.

“We have said that it will take six months to be in full production but we are hopeful that we can reduce that time," said Walton.

“In parallel with going to production on v1 (version one) we are already looking at ways of optimising the ruggedness and battery life for v2 (version two)," he said.

Plans are also in place to lower the cost of the BRCK as well, says Walton.

“We haven't finalised the production costs so we are still working off pre-production estimates.

“We have priced the units on Kickstarter at $200 but we would like to get this lower if at all possible,” concludes Walton.

At the time of writing and on the first day of securing funding for the BRCK, Ushahidi had 112 backers who had raised over $15,000 with 29 days to go before the cut-off date.