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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.

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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.

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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

1. Develop four prototypes for real-world testing.
2. Prove the business concept to investors to secure funding.
3. Ensure market viability of the product.

Key Challenges

1. Fast Timeline: The project had an aggressive deadline.
2. Budget Constraints: Keeping the system and controls within a minimum budget.
3. User Experience: Creating an intuitive and straightforward user experience for syncing, selecting, and purchasing beverages.
4. Cross-Contamination: Preventing or minimizing cross-contamination between different drink concentrates.

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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

1. Brainstorming and Planning: We conducted a thorough brainstorming session and data dump to understand the client’s existing technologies and project goals.
2. Collaborative Planning: Structured the project tasks to align with the aggressive timeline.
3. CAD Development: Designed novel components and sourced off-the-shelf (OTS) components to reduce costs and development time.
4. 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.
5. Partial Prototypes: Created partial prototypes to test the drink dispensing system.
6. 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

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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.

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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.