LED ice cubes send an alert when the drinker has had too much alcohol

Dhairya Dand's Cheers ice cubes monitor how much alcohol a person has consumed, and turn red when they have reached their limit.

We’ve already seen an electronic soup spoon that measures salt content and beverage test strips that reveal the presence of caffeine, so it stands to reason that a similar innovation could monitor alcohol content as well. Dhairya Dand’s Cheers ice cubes go beyond just measuring, however, by not only keeping track of how much the user has consumed but also by sending a text alert when that person is in trouble. Dand, a graduate student at MIT, was inspired to create his digital ice cubes when he drank too much at a party last fall and woke up in the hospital as a result of an alcohol-induced blackout. In response, he created Cheers, “self-aware glowing ice-cubes that beat to the ambient music,” as he describes them. Equipped with an LED, accelerometer, IR transceivers and a battery, the ice cubes measure not only the drink’s alcohol content, but also how fast and how much the user is drinking. At first the cubes light up green when the user begins drinking; over time they change color to orange and finally red as the user keeps drinking beyond the safety limit. Ultimately, the cubes send a text for help to a designated friend via the user’s smartphone. The video below explains the concept in more detail: Dand is now considering launching an effort on Kickstarter to bring his Cheers invention to market, according to reports. Food and beverage entrepreneurs: one to get involved in? Spotted by: Lily Dixon