At Kickr Design, we’re passionate about turning innovative ideas into market-ready products. We’re excited to share the success story of our collaboration with Sum Hydration, a company revolutionizing the fitness hydration market.
The Client: Sum Hydration
Sum Hydration, led by Tyler Hurd, approached us with an ambitious project: a drink dispenser designed for the fitness market. Their vision was to mix highly concentrated liquids with water, controlled through a user-connected NFC/Bluetooth phone app for drink selection, volume, dispensing, and payment.
The Challenge
The Client’s Vision
Sum Hydration needed a sophisticated drink dispenser that could dispense multiple sports drink concentrates, all managed via a user-friendly mobile app.
Project Goals
- Develop four prototypes for real-world testing.
- Prove the business concept to investors to secure funding.
- Ensure market viability of the product.
Key Challenges
- Fast Timeline: The project had an aggressive deadline.
- Budget Constraints: Keeping the system and controls within a minimum budget.
- User Experience: Creating an intuitive and straightforward user experience for syncing, selecting, and purchasing beverages.
- Cross-Contamination: Preventing or minimizing cross-contamination between different drink concentrates.
The Solution
Our Partnership
Kickr Design collaborated closely with Sum Hydration throughout the entire development process. We focused on the core functionalities – user experience, software, firmware, customer electronics, and PCB development – to bring their vision to life.
Project Steps
- Brainstorming and Planning: We conducted a thorough brainstorming session and data dump to understand the client’s existing technologies and project goals.
- Collaborative Planning: Structured the project tasks to align with the aggressive timeline.
- CAD Development: Designed novel components and sourced off-the-shelf (OTS) components to reduce costs and development time.
- User Experience Development: Worked closely with Sum Hydration to define the desired user experience, which informed the development of custom PCBs, user interface setup, and firmware generation.
- Partial Prototypes: Created partial prototypes to test the drink dispensing system.
- Full Prototypes: Built four complete prototypes for real-world testing.
Services Provided
- CAD for novel components
- Prototyping
- Software & Firmware development and testing
- PCB development
- Sourcing OTS components to reduce cost and development time
A Look at Our Process
Electrical CAD – CAD modeling for custom PCB design and circuitry routing.
Mechanical Engineering – Mechanical Engineering of new custom liquid concentrate dispenser manifold.
Conventional Water Dispenser Conversion
A conventional water dispenser and its interior plumbing were dismantled.
Then reassembled with the new liquid concentrate tanks, manifold, and plumbing; connected to the new controller electronics and valves.
Firmware to Mobile App – Custom firmware was developed to control all the mechanisms and interface with the user mobile app.
First Full Prototype – Series of Four
The First Full Prototype was completed, and three more duplicates were created to fulfill the customer’s goal to test in four different gym locations.
The Result
Final Delivery
We delivered four fully functional prototypes, enabling Sum Hydration to conduct real-world testing and demonstrate their concept to potential investors.
At Kickr Design, we’re proud to have been part of Sum Hydration’s journey. This project is a testament to our commitment to transforming innovative ideas into reality. Contact us if you have a product idea and need a reliable partner to bring it to life. Let’s create something amazing together.