Floome is an elegant and practical universal smartphone accessory developed with the help of Proto Labs that provides users with accurate and reliable blood-alcohol readings. It has joined the ranks of some of the most promising hardware innovations as a Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award recipient.
Proto Labs launched the Cool Idea! Award in 2011, which gives a total of $250,000 each year to entrepreneurs developing new products in the United States and Europe. Unlike other product awards that recognize products after they’re in mass production and on store shelves, the Cool Idea! Award is meant to help cool ideas come to life. Proto Labs provided the Floome’s co-founders, Marco Barbetta and Fabio Penzo of Italian company 2045Tech, with tooling and a subsequent first production run of injection molded parts.
User-friendly and efficient “Floome is the first, reliable smartphone breathalyzer,” says Barbetta. By blowing into the device while it is connected to a smartphone audio jack, the users Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) is measured. Floome employs a patent-pending technology that matches a vortex whistle with the fuel cell ethanol sensor that is widely used by law enforcement breathalyzers. The collected data is sent over audio frequencies to the corresponding app where the user can view their BAC, get an estimate of when they will reach the legal limit to drive based on their test results and body characteristics, set an alarm to take a new test, view a graph of previous results, or call a nearby taxi.
From original design to production thanks to Proto Labs For 2045Tech, the casing design for Floome was as important to its overall functionality as the technology inside it. “After many sketches and prototypes, we came up with a really unique, eye-catching shape; its smooth edges and lightness also make it easy to carry around,” says Barbetta. “Receiving the Cool Idea! Award has enabled us to move from the testing stage into production, which is a big hurdle for any new product,” says Penzo. Adds Larry Lukis, founder of Proto Labs, “Floome eliminates the predicament many find themselves in while out for a drink; it provides an accurate and at-the-ready means to determine when they are safely able to drive. Combined with its elegant design aesthetic and smartphone integration, this cool product should be a great success.”
For more information about the Cool Idea! Award and how to apply you can visit www.protolabs.co.uk/coolidea
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You can discover the services offered by Proto Labs at the next Midest in Paris from November 19 to 22 on booth 6G109.
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You can read all the articles published on Proto Labs in Eurotec here.
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France and French-speaking Switzerland Proto labs Bernard Faure Savoie-Technolac 18 Allée du Lac St. André 73382 Le Bourget du Lac Cédex France Phone +33 (0) 479 65 46 50 Fax +33 (0) 479 65 46 51 [email protected] www.protolabs.fr
Germany and German-speaking Switzerland
Proto Labs Alte-Neckarelzer-Strasse 24 74821 Mosbach, Allemagne Phone: +49 (0) 6261 6436 947 [email protected] | www.protolabs.de
In the UK: [email protected]
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