USF Students Build Sleeve That Weighs Water Intake

TAMPA, Fla. - Three University of South Florida students have built a silicone sleeve that fits under a reusable water bottle and weighs what a person drinks. The device, called syp, sits at the base of the bottle and acts as a scale. Each time the bottle is lifted for a drink and set back down on a flat surface, the sleeve calculates the change in weight and sends the figure to a companion mobile app.

Users enter their age, height and weight into the app, which can also connect to Apple Watches and Oura rings. Workout details, including sport, duration and temperature, can be logged there, along with drinks consumed from containers other than the bottle wearing the sleeve. When a user falls short of a hydration target, the app pushes a reminder notification.

"Today, we track pretty much everything: Sleep, workouts, food, steps, anything - you name it, we track it," said Rima El Brouzi, a USF computer science master's student and syp co-founder. "And hydration is still such an important part of what impacts our body, yet it's a total guessing game."

The project started after Mathis Fürst Haugen, a former USF men's soccer player, had a severe dehydration episode that ended his freshman season early. Haugen, El Brouzi and Nicolas Scargle, a former teammate and roommate of Haugen's, developed the device together. Scargle serves as managing director for syp.

"Getting lost in your routine throughout the day with school, training, lifts, trying to fit meals in, and just trying to balance everything all at once, we just forget," Scargle said.

Syp has pilot programs scheduled with sports teams at USF and the University of Central Florida. The team detailed the sleeve's mechanics and testing plans on Oct. 29, 2026.