LED Ice Cubes Track Alcohol Consumption

An MIT graduate student turned a night in the hospital into a product that might save lives; LED ice cubes. The colorful waterproof cubes don’t just look cool, they monitor alcohol intake and can issue warnings.

Dhairya Dand spent time in the hospital last year when he blacked out from a night of heavy drinking. The 23-year-old student learned a valuable lesson from the incident, and came up with an idea to help others avoid a similar fate.

Dand, according to his website, enjoys combining his interest in art with his love of technology. He especially likes turning everyday objects into “super-objects.”

The LED cubes, contain lights that pulsate with ambient music and also monitor how much alcohol is being consumed. The cubes utilize an accelerometer, to keep track of how many times the glass is raised, and a timer that helps estimate the user’s level of intoxication. The cubes change color depending on the estimated intoxication level. Starting out green, the cubes change to yellow as a warning, then to red which indicates that it is time to stop.

In an interview with ABC News, Dand explains how the LED cubes can also call for help:

“The cubes talk to your phone to make the call. They communicate over IR [infrared] with a custom removable IR receiver fitted on the smartphone’s audio jack.”

Dand is pleased with the outcome of his invention, which only cost him $50 to create. He calls his LED cubes “Cheers.” The MIT student previously spent time creating open-source educational toys for children. He has a new product in the works which he refers to as “super shoes.”

In this video, Dhairya Dand introduces “Cheers.”