AMD (Automatic Medicine Dispenser)

The device itself
Inside the device

Inspiration

Some people forget to take their medicines, which can lead to health repercussions. Unfortunately, this is what happened to the grandmother of one of our team members, which resulted in her being hospitalized. Seeing what happened to her after she forgot to take a single pill out of the many she needed is what inspired us to make this project.

What it does

Our project automatically dispenses the medicine that the person needs for the day. Everyday at a specific time, (we choose 9AM by default) the device will dispense the required medication needed for that day.

How we built it

We built 7 capsules (one for each day) using carboard, and those are all connected using servo motors. So when the specified time comes (9AM by default), the servo will rotate 45 degrees, which will drop the medicine down a chute and onto a plate at the bottom of the device. For the "brains" we used a Raspberry Pi 3b+ and used python for the software.

Challenges we ran into

One of the challenges we ran into was how to efficiently dispense the medicine the user. We had many variations but ultimately came up with the idea of individual capsules for each day of the week. Another challenge was learning how to use the raspberry pi and use it in parallel with the servo motors (as the majority of the group has never worked with a Pi before), but we eventually got it. Finally, the time constraint was probably the biggest problem we encountered. We all have other commitments later on in the day, which cut our work time almost in half, which didn't allow us to accomplish everything we wanted to achieve.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

First and foremost we are proud that we finished the project. We are also proud of the fact that we could come up with an idea and make it tangible, working device in a few hours, which is something we couldn't even fathom us doing before.

What we learned

We learned how to use a Raspberry Pi with numerous servo motors, and write code to control the motors on the Pi. We also learned about how to divide up the work to finish the project within the time restriction, with Tejas working on software, Emilio working on the electronics, and Manuel working on the enclosure, capsules, and chute.

What's next for AMD (Automatic Medicine Dispenser)

In the future we would like to add a button to the device, which would allow the user to request their medicine for the day at whatever time. Also, we could add an email and/or text messaging system to remind the user to take their medicine. Another thing we can work on is making the enclosure more appealing. We can use more durable materials, and make the cables out of sight and more cleaner.