Tabbed: Reimagining the Aluminum Can Lid
Developed during a semester-long 0⇾1 project to prevent drink spiking in canned drinks.
Me, Kyler Caldwell, Mia Wang,
Jaden Steinhoff, Joanna Poon
Team
Timeline
Spring 2023
Skills
Product Thinking
Prototyping
Market Strategy
Agile Scrum Framework
Tools
Fusion360
Adobe Dimension
1 in 13 college students have had their drinks spiked.
That’s why we redesigned the aluminum can lid.
We are dedicated to creating a safer drinking culture.
Solution Considerations
The simpler the more likely users would actually employ the mechanism, especially considering that users would likely be intoxicated during use.
Simple & Easy To Use
It was important to optimize the amount of material used in the changes we made to reduce cost margins to improve the likelihood of adaptation.
Minimize Excess Aluminum
Familiarity
We wanted our solution to maintain the familiarity of the standard can as competitor research found that college students are deterred from previous preventative methods that draw attention.
Our Final Pitch
Our 3D printed prototype with a rotating tab and branding.
Takeaway
We considered pursuing the patent process based on feedback from professors and faculty, but we decided against it for the following reasons:
We did not have data specific to drink spiking in cans, and it is unlikely that data would be available. Even though we have seen it first-hand, this lack of evidence heavily weakened our problem statement.
The patent process is quite expensive, costing upwards of 20k. With this weakness in our problem statement, we felt less confident pursuing fundraising and post-patent development.