Droplite

How might we make drink safety easy and fashionable?

One of the beautiful aspects of the Iovine and Young Academy is how every pitch we give has the merit to exist in the real world. For our last pitch, my team and I presented this idea and was working towards its existence for a few months.

Droplite is a reusable device that carries date rape drug test strips so that a user may test a drink before consuming it. On the team, my role, along with my peer Justin Zhang, was to develop the design of the product within limitations in just a week. Besides reusable, we also wanted the device to be discrete and simple. To do this we decided to challenge ourselves to design the product so that the main module could be used single handedly and without electricity. 

This was a challenge and we racked our minds for days on how someone could load a test strip and operate it. What saved us was thinking inductively and about how other non-electronic products function. 

Droplite, which was originally named Halotus, featured a two handed process of removing a test strip, dipping it in the drink, then dipping it in the test chamber, all before placing it back in the sleeve. This process was far too complicated for anyone who might already be intoxicated. Not to mention, the two handed process meant there was no way to do this discretely.

We began by asking ourselves how could someone conveniently “reload” their devices with test strips? I found inspiration in the mechanisms that make up Nerf guns. The way a user loads a Nerf gun is non-electrical and quite fool proof. It is also a very simple mechanism that is easy to reproduce.

With that in mind we proceeded to the next function that needed to be designed; a system to lock the “clip” which holds the test strips in. The design of this played an important role in the overall user experience. I severely dislike component locking systems like the ones used to cover batteries on TV remotes. They feel flimsy and are never entirely flush or solid, and if they are, then they are impossible to open.

Hence, we decided on small magnets. The same kind used in an Apple Airpods case. Not only do they provide a structurally sound closing and opening, it also clicks which gives the user a slight feeling of achievement and satisfaction. This is the same satisfaction people get when they flick the lid to a lighter or repeatedly click a ball point pen.

Most difficult question still remained. How to get a single test strip out? 

We knew that this would have to be a spring loaded mechanism that would pop back into place after each use. Our issue was how to prevent more than one strip from being ejected at one time and how to stop the strip from returning to the device after being used. To solve this issue I thought about other mechanisms that prevent reversed movement. This included zip ties, ratcheting systems, and exacto knives. In each of these examples, forward movement is ensured through the use of many small teeth that allow for movement in only one direction. If the pusher was precise and pushed only one strip at a time, its movement could be controlled with these teeth.

From the beginning, this project has been a fantastic industrial design, and user experience, challenge. But by questioning what currently exists as a solution to our problems, we were able to rapidly design Droplite knowing that it could function. That is why this is one of my first steps in my creative problem solving process.