Smart ice cube knows when your drink is running low and automatically orders you another

It could also be used to detect when drinks have been tampered with

Christopher Hooton
Friday 02 September 2016 16:19 BST
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As you relish the final sip of your drink a sad realisation descends - you’re going to have to queue at the bar for a maddening number of minutes to get another.

Martini’s slightly bonkers new Smart Cube offers a solution to this though, using Bluetooth to anticipate when your drink will be finished and communicate with the bar in real-time.

Better still, it’s disguised as an ice cube (made out of food-safe resin), so there’s no awkward wearable tech to worry about, and actually functions as an ice cube too thanks to its cooling Nasa-created Aerogel.

The buoyant Smart Cube might encourage consumption of more drinks, but Martini tacked on a feature that lets you keep track of the number of drinks you’ve consumed in the hope of encouraging responsible drinking.

Martini Smartcubes

The technology will be premiered at a bar at the F1 Gran Prix at Monza this weekend, but could be rolled out elsewhere if successful.

“There’s huge potential for innovation within the beverage industry and this is just the beginning,” said Martini Creative Excellence Director (what a title) Laila Mignoni.

"Creating an ice-cube packed with technology presented some difficult challenges,” added James Rowley​, Director of Creative Technology at AMV BBDO, which made the Smart Cube. “Bluetooth signal strength is reduced significantly when immersed in liquid. But by tweaking the power and carefully positioning the antenna we managed to get the range to about 30 metres, even in a busy bar environment."

Interestingly, the Smart Cubes could also be used to detect when drinks have been tampered and help locate the friends for whom you ordered the round of drinks.

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