Ice cubes that tell you when to stop drinking

After an alcohol-induced blackout put him in the hospital, MIT Media Lab researcher Dhairya Dand created LED ice cubes that detect alcohol and flash various colors based on the total number of drinks, Dand explains in his Vimeo clip.

According to Huffington Post, each edible gelatin ice cube holds a coin cell battery, an AT tiny microcontroller and an IR transceiver. The ice cubes track the number of sips and total time spent drinking, in order to keep a running tally of total cocktails, and predict when the user may be intoxicated.

Dand devised the concept after he got into some trouble with MIT's administration following his night of drinking. Though Dand said it was a misunderstanding, he was asked to write a research paper on alcohol consumption during an administrative hearing. Instead, he conceived the idea to create a tool that could actually help monitor intoxication.

The glowing cubes, which flash in sync with ambient music and sounds, come in three colors -- green, orange and red -- to depict the varying stages of inebriation.

"If you don't hurry, it would take say five drinks to hit the red color. If you are having a very mild drink, it might hit red on the sixth or seventh," Dand said.

As a precaution, if the drinker continues beyond the red level, the LED ice cubes are also capable of electronically transmitting a text message warning to a friend through the IR channel. A specific phone app allows users to designate emergency contacts.

Although Dand did not plan to market the ice cubes when he first devised the concept, he said he's received such a positive response from his video that he's considering a Kickstarted campaign.