Arduino Pill dispenser

Front of the Pill Dispenser
Back of the pill Dispenser
Left of the Pill Dispenser
Right of the Pill Dispenser
Inside of the Pill Dispenser

Inspiration

People forgetting or not wanting to take pills is a serious issue and we thought of an invention to address that issue. Millions of people suffer from mental illnesses that require strict pill schedules, but their conditions often result in a lack of motivation to stick to their pill schedules. Also, people who take medication for their substance abuse issues suffer from a similar lack of motivation. In fact, more than 50% of OUD patients who are out on medication don’t finish their treatment plans. Furthermore, there are thousands of other illnesses that require strict pill schedules, whether that be chronic illnesses or diabetes. We decided to make an invention that would address this issue. We designed our project based on the way that habits work. The two most important parts of a habit are the cue and the response. Our project combines these two so that there is a minimal amount of resistance causing people to fail to take their pills. Think about it. The best alarm clock is the alarm clock that forces you to get out of bed. This pill dispenser forces you to take your pill. When the alarm goes off, it won’t stop ringing until you touch the pill dispenser, which turns off the alarm and dispenses your pills at the same time. Combined with a website providing instructions for personalization through various time intervals, this dispenser has the potential to change the healthcare industry. Smart pill dispensers often cost hundreds of dollars, but this one costs no more than $10.

What it does

Based on what the user selects, an alarm will sound off telling the user to activate the touch sensor to dispense the pills.

How we built it

The Arduino circuit was made first and coded. Once that was finished, the outer shell was 3D printed based on dimensions of the circuit. On Saturday, both the 3D printed materials and circuit were put together using lots of tape.

Challenges we ran into

The dispensing mechanism very hard to implement due to the flimsy nature of tape and the fact that we hadn't fully planned out how to motor would be integrated into the final design.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Even though it fell apart half way through, we didn't give up and pushed through to find a solution.

What we learned

More planning was definitely needed but that was mostly down to time constraints and the nature of us all being beginners and having to complete something while also balancing academics.