Vitamin D-Ficiency Kit

Idea and Purpose

Create a device that helps address the issue of Vitamin D Deficiency.
Vitamin D deficiency can affect a patient over time, pose as a symptom of preexisting health issues, or be a side effect of medication.
Causes of Vitamin D deficiency: tiredness, lethargy, muscular aches, bone issues, mood swings, and worsened sleep quality or insomnia.
Long-term Risks of Vitamin D deficiency: hair loss, bone loss, depression, increased tendency for bone fractures, and slowing of the body’s healing time.
Management and Treatment: consultation with a doctor/healthcare professional, exposure to direct sunlight, taking vitamin supplements, and changing one’s diet to accommodate more calcium.
Our Vitamin D-Ficiency TM kit, made up of two devices and a website, aims to help a patient with all the above treatments.

Pill Dispenser:

Dispenses pills daily (7 slots for each day of the week) and can be refilled via the top lid of the dispenser.
Users can set a time for the pills to dispense via a keypad paired with an RTC component that in turn signals via red LED that the time has to take pills has been reached (an enhancement for our next steps as we faced time constraints on pairing it with the rest of the pill dispenser functions).
The device uses a stepper motor, so there is a 360 rotation capacity for the 7 slots of pills to rotate and dispense with ease.
On the front where the pill dispenses, there is an LCD Display that displays a message saying for the user to take their pills (and was intended to display the time entered via keypad when the user wants to take their pills).

Suntime Tracker:

Tracks the amount of time a user is in sunlight via a photoresistor and a blue and yellow LED, where the yellow LED lights up when there is enough sunlight, and the blue light lights up when there is not enough sunlight.
The LCD Display on the front of the device also informs the user of how much sunlight they have been receiving in either seconds or minutes (can be adjusted via the code, for demo we used seconds, but it is intended to be in the unit of minutes).
After 30 minutes (the optimal conditions of sunlight to receive for vitamin D), it will notify the user via the display that they have received enough sunlight with a message and sun symbol.

Vitamin D-ficieny Website

Offers info for users to learn more about vitamin D and the effects of deficiency through a straightforward and eye-catching layout.
Offers health advice on recovering from a deficiency, such as ways of maintaining vitamin D levels and treatment methods
Serves as an interactive guide to our pill dispenser and sun time tracker, along with some widgets to promote outside activity and proper nutrition for vitamin D levels.

Settling on a solid idea related to a global healthcare issue, as we constantly debated over addressing something broad or specific.
Combining various components of an Arduino to work at once (including 3 to 4 components via one breadboard or mini breadboard attached to each other as well as combined code/files).
Creating an optimal design for the pill dispenser and sun time tracker, as we had to make designs that appeared portable and user-friendly without much of the wiring & arduino components being exposed.
Working with new components from the Arduino (LCD Display, Keypad, RTC).
Working with user input & interconnected components, making the code more complex to combine functionalities.
Had to sacrifice some specific ideas/features in the long run to focus on meeting the product & feasibility requirements (such as the RTC & Keypad components of the pill dispenser)

Got the suntime tracker to work by detecting optimal sunlight and recording time spent in the sun with all components: LCD Display, LEDS, buzzer, and photoresistor.
Got the pill dispenser to work with the rotating capsule dispensing pills with all components: stepper motor, LCD Display, as well as make a key pad to pair input with an RTC intended to set a time for pills to dispense (was a separate future due to time constraints, but will consider to be a future step to improve the pill dispensor.
Developed a website for users to interact with and learn more about Vitamin D Deficiency and how to utilize our product.
Learned how to pair multiple new components of an Arduino optimally so they can all function simultaneously without diminishing the functions of each other.
Able to create feasible prototypes for both devices in our kit.

Researched and learned about the impacts and healthcare issues of vitamin D deficiency.
Navigated and combined various Arduino components (RTC, keypad, photoresistor, LEDS, LCD Display) more efficiently with proper spacing and circuitry so they function effectively together without hindering each other.
Combined software and hardware components to make a Vitamin D kit product for users that offers resources through a website and solutions to improve vitamin D levels through the functions/devices of the pill dispenser and suntime tracker.
Implement the RTC & Keypad to register time input from the keypad and reflect when the time has arrived for pills to dispense with the signal of the red LED.
Make design adjustments to the Suntime Tracker so it could be made portable with an attachment and a carabiner once the components were sealed in its container.
Consider utilizing a Raspberry Pi to connect the devices via wifi to the website so it could reflect user data and also be made mobile responsive so users do not have to rely on being in the presence of the devices.