Rex.fit (backed by Y Combinator and Entrepreneur First) has announced the launch of The Drop, a first-of-its-kind wearable device designed to completely automate nutrition tracking.
The company has already collaborated with major gym chains while gaining significant traction with over 20,000 users through their first product, Nutribot, an AI nutrition coach over WhatsApp. Building on this momentum, the team is now kicking off The Drop on Kickstarter, accepting pre-orders from health-conscious individuals.
Founded by Bulgarian tech entrepreneur Rangel Milushev and Ahmad Roumie, both with backgrounds in AI/ computer vision from Harvard and ETH Zurich respectively, Rex.fit was inspired by a scenario familiar to many successful entrepreneurs: solving a personal problem. In their case, it was managing to stay fit despite a demanding schedule.
Ahmad, a certified calisthenics coach, implemented a strict regimen that helped them both lose weight—Ahmad lost 20 pounds (9kg) in four weeks, while Rangel lost 26 pounds (12 kg) over three months. However, the manual logging process was tedious, making it challenging to maintain consistency in dietary habits.
Recognizing the need for a more efficient solution, Rex.fit initially rolled out the Nutribot, which had great user adoption, gaining significant popularity on Product Hunt. Yet, feedback from users consistently pointed to a major limitation: “The image logging functionality is great, but I often forget to take a photo before I eat.” This insight led to the development of The Drop, a wearable designed to fully automate the calorie tracking process.
Built with privacy in mind, The Drop utilizes advanced computer vision and AI to automatically detect food intake without the need for manual entry. The device attaches to clothing via a magnetic clasp or can be worn as a stylish pendant.
How does it all work? In a nutshell, the user wears The Drop, which takes photos at regular intervals that are processed on the device by a smart AI chip and deleted immediately after. If food or drinks are detected, the smart 4K AI camera captures more images to analyze the user’s interactions, then transfers only these photos to the user’s phone and syncs them with the cloud for further analysis.
“By introducing The Drop, we aim to create a new category of wearables—nutrition trackers—similar to fitness trackers and smartwatches,” Rangel explains. “Our vision is to empower users to effortlessly take control of their nutrition and health.
Advantages Over Existing Solutions
- Fully Automated Tracking: Unlike traditional calorie tracking apps that require manual entry, The Drop automates the entire process, making it effortless for users to log their meals.
- High Accuracy: The device’s estimations are on par with what a nutritionist would provide, ensuring users receive reliable data about their food intake.
- Comprehensive AI Assistant: Beyond simple nutrition tracking, The Drop includes an AI assistant that offers personalized recipes, meal plans, and workout recommendations, enhancing the overall user experience.
AI Nutrition Tracking: Explained
As explained earlier, The Drop contains an AI chip running a deep learning model that detects when the user is interacting with food. Once activated, it streams images to the cloud for analysis.
The methodology includes:
- Image Recognition: The AI analyzes the streamed images to identify the food items and estimate how much the person ate
- Nutritional Database Cross-Referencing: After identifying the ingredients, the system cross-references them with established nutritional databases to calculate an accurate reading of calories, proteins, carbs, and fats.
- Continuous Learning: The proprietary machine learning pipeline improves with every image processed, enhancing the accuracy of food identification and nutritional estimates over time. Rex’s long-term goal is to bring all tracking data together, empowering users to monitor nutrition, workouts, sleep, and overall wellness from a single app.
With a starting price of $199 USD, The Drop is available in three colors: carbon black, metallic blue, and gold, and comes with a lifetime subscription of the Rex app. Pre-orders are open globally, with the first shipments expected in Q4 of 2025.
For more information, visit The Drop’s Kickstarter Campaign Page.
