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Final Project

Pill Dispenser Introduction

I would like to make a pill dispenser that would help my nephew take his medication for the day. Then send him a reminder before letting my sister in law know if my nephew has taken his medication for the day.

Breaking it down into sections: - pill dispenser body - pill cartridge - sensor or camera in dispensor area - app to notify - electronics to make it work

I worked with my daughter, Sage Kanofsky, to make sketchs of a pill dispenser. She is in Industial Design school at Georgia Institute of Technology. She is currently studying abroad the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

Sage Sketch Sage Sketch 2

Past Pill Dispensers at Fab

[Griffin van Horne - Fab Academy 2021] (https://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/dassault/students/griffin-vanhorne/projects/final-project/) made a small handheld version with bluetooth.

Corey M. Rice : Fab Academy 2017 made one that distributes the right amount of a whole bottle of pills.

Arsheena.E.P Feb 2016

Lily Yeazell at MIT made the cutest pill box!!

Loes Fab 2021 made a box with alarms.

Miriam Choi showed this instructables project in her presentation. It is very similar in many ways to what I was thinking.

3D models

Then later I worked in Fusion 360 to make a 3D model Relative

We've been discussing this dispenser and a few other items in what we call the "remember me" line. This would be helpful not only to Mika, but also to me and my family as I age. My father had alzhiemers and as he aged, the more things that he had to help with memory, the more independent he could remain. I would like to create things that make the burden on family less, and increase the feeling of independence for all who struggle with memory for one reason or another.

I have seen that other pill dispensers have been done as fab projects. I hope that mine will be different in a couple of ways:

  • Cartidges that can be preloaded

  • Messages sent first to the pill taker, and second to the car giver

Programming

I have started working on programming a motor to move in steps. I need 8 steps per revolution to match my design. I found some documentation to help me with the arduino stepper library. For the example motor I have from my ELEGOO kit.. its 2048/8. I have another motor that i want to try that I got from the lab. More research is needed.