TAB-TIME

IoT-based Portable Tablet Dispenser with which you will never again forget to take your Tabs on Time!

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WE ARE COMPETING FOR:

BEST HARDWARE BEGINNER OVERALL STARTUP HUMANITARIAN

Inspiration

Growing up, I've always spent time with my grandparents. And even as a child, I realized how crucial it was for them to have their medications on time. And now, my granny is inflicted with age-related memory lapses, often forgetting to take her medication on time. While my granny is fortunate to have a live-in nurse to assist her, others around the world are not in a similar position to afford such care. But I also realized that the vast majority of people, like me, often forget to have their medications on time, even if I keep a reminder on my phone, I often miss it. Studies have found that among the cases where medications were prescribed, as many as 30% were time-sensitive. Therefore taking your prescribed medication/tables on time is crucial. And hence, we came up with a solution.

What it does

The design we came up with enables the user to wear TAB-TIME like a watch, to maximize convenience. In terms of functionality, it lets the user enter the Time at which they would like to open a certain chamber, out of the four provided. After which they would enter the number associated with that particular chamber. The user can then fill the chambers with the tablets they have to take in the course of their day and get on with it. Once TAB-TIME detects the entered time matches the global time, it will send a vibration for a minute, until the inbuilt accelerometer detects that the user has held their hand horizontally to receive the tablet. Afterwhich, the assigned chamber would extend outwards for the user to take their tablet, and soon after, the chamber would retract back into its casing. The user can assign these chambers to open, as many times as they require.

How we built it

TAB-TIME is designed in a manner where about 90% of the structure can be 3D printed and easily assembled, the only exception being the straps to wear the product around the user's wrist. Linear actuators are used for the chamber movement operation, while the screen and input buttons are placed at the top cover. The Arduino Nano and Battery are placed at the bottom half of the structure to avoid any tablet residue interfering with the circuitry. The structure was entirely designed on Solidworks and due to lockdown conditions in Mumbai, the required material couldn't be sourced to build a prototype physically, to our disappointment.

Challenges we ran into

The Covid Lockdown is definitely a challenge, as it is for everyone participating in this hackathon. The size and weight were challenges we definitely faced, especially finding appropriate-sized Linear actuators to enable the chambers' opening and closing motion. It was definitely a challenge to reasonably fit all the necessary components within the casing.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of how we solved the small hurdles that come our way while designing this prototype. It may seem simple at first, but it took us the entire day to figure out how to make it as realistic as possible, without compromising on performance and its ultimate functionality and usability.

What we learned

We definitely learned a lot in regard to patient care while researching this subject. And why it's essential to have medications on time. Missing even a single dose, in cases where it's a serious medical condition, could lead to an alarming situation.

What's next for TAB-TIME

Definitely to fabricate it once the lockdown is lifted. And consider its viability in the market. Would love to improve upon it and give it certain IR sensors to also detect the user's temperature and also link it to the user's mobile phone so they can track their tablet consumption on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

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