[Innovator Video] Internet of Things: Got Milk?

Interactive design agency Teehan+Lax’s “Labs” has developed a milk jug and Android mobile app that alert you when you are low on milk in your refrigerator . The 3D-printed jug has weight sensor attached to it’s bottom, which sends an alert to your phone when the milk “reaches dangerously low levels,” and uses GPS to suggest nearby grocery stores.

You can also check how much milk you have through the app.

The goal of the project is to explore the ways technology influences our daily activities.

“Although this experiment revolved around milk, the idea has broader implications that extend beyond the milk itself,” the Teehan+Lax Labs team wrrote in a blog post. “How can this idea impact the way we organize our lives and the way we interact with objects using the digital capabilities available to us? The possibilities are as endless as our imagination.”

Who knows, maybe a food mailbox – an idea for a refrigerator that uses remote sensors to determine when you are out of a particular food item, and then notifies food purveyors to deliver new items to your food mailbox –  is not that far off.