Edson Perin
American sports beverage brand Gatorade, part of PepsiCo, introduced Gx, a sports fuel customization platform that will change the way athletes hydrate and fuel now and into the future, says the company in an official statement. The new bottle that tracks personalized hydration needs and indicates to athletes when to drink, via a cap that lights up as an alert mechanism.
Pods are tailored to each user and are gathered through data collected from the individual’s sweat patch and app. Gatorade claims the bottle is the world’s first smart squeeze bottle and the only smart bottle with light-up cap tracking.
The company expects the biggest impact the Smart Gx Bottle will have on the packaging industry is the importance of personalized fueling and hydration for athletes, through a smart bottle that everyday athletes can have at home.
The Gx ecosystem combines science-backed products with newly designed equipment, and real-time biometric and tracking technologies to provide fueling recommendations specific to an individual athlete.
What the innovation includes:
- Bottle with Flipcap – Squeeze bottle (without tracking electronics) specifically designed for use with pods by including a water level marking, an integrated pod piercer and a flip cap for ease of operation.
- Smart Cap – In development as an upgrade to the basic flipcap, this component utilizes fluid intake tracking and provides visual feedback directly to the athlete to pace hydration.
- Pods – Accompanying the bottle will be a range of concentrated Gatorade formulas and flavors optimized for use with personalized hydration & fuel strategies.
- Digital Sweat Patch – Provides ability for real-time hydration tracking (in conjunction with smart cap) to allow athlete to hydrate & re-fuel accordingly.
- Future Food Forms – Gatorade is creating new food forms with new ingredients that will help address athlete preferences and fuel them during more parts of their day, including protein-enriched yogurt. These products will be available over the next several years.
The Gatorade Fuel Lab, which premiered at SXSW Interactive in Austin, Texas, provides an interactive showcase of these innovations. Included in the Fuel Lab is the Hydration Customization Room, which allows the opportunity to personalize a Gx bottle and customize the formula and flavor of the accompanying pods.
The Fuel Lab also showcases the Locker Room of the Future, which provides a glimpse into the technology behind the Smart Cap Bottle and the Digital Sweat Patch, as well as demonstrating examples of customized fueling plans for elite athletes.
