PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

Assignment

Progress

Overall Completion 20%
PCB Design
50%
Fabrication
0%
Firmware
0%
Mechanical (Fusion)
60%
Documentation
20%
Testing
0%

Task Status

KiCad schematic — ESP32, ULN2003, DS3231, TP4056 done
Full project plan + Gantt HTML done
Enclosure + disc design in Fusion 360 in progress
3D-print enclosure + disc assembly todo
Arduino stepper driver (28BYJ-48 + ULN2003) todo
Arduino servo control for dispense gate todo
DS3231 RTC alarm + scheduled dispense logic todo
End-to-end dispense cycle test todo
Buzzer / LED alert on missed dose todo
Full Fab Academy documentation page todo
Presentation video (≤1 min) todo

Questions to Resolve

License Links and Icons

The license section at the bottom of the page contains multiple clickable links and icons that provide additional information about the project and its licensing terms.

These links help users understand the ownership, usage rights, and documentation source of the project while also giving direct access to the official license information.

  • Final Project
  • Side Quests

    • INVENTION, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY & INCOME

    Assignment

    Intellectual Property

    Intellectual Property (IP) refers to the legal rights that protect creations, inventions, designs, written work, branding, and other original ideas developed by individuals or organizations.

    Intellectual Property is explained by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as :

    “Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.”

    Since Fab Academy projects combine electronics, design, software, fabrication, and documentation, understanding Intellectual Property is important when deciding how a project can be shared, modified, or commercially used.

    Types of Intellectual Property

    Patents

    A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention. Patents benefit inventors by providing them with legal protection of their inventions. However, patents also benefit the society by providing public access to technical information about these inventions, and thus accelerating innovation.

    A patent protects the functional and technical aspects of an invention. It gives the inventor exclusive rights to manufacture, use, or sell the invention for a limited period of time.

    For MediBee, possible patent-related elements could include the pill dispensing mechanism, rotating compartment system, automated dispensing workflow, and integration between hardware and firmware.

    At the current stage, MediBee is developed as an educational prototype within Fab Academy, and no patent application has been filed.

    The value of patent protection

    What kinds of inventions can be protected?

    Patents may be granted for inventions in any field of technology, from an everyday kitchen utensil to a nanotechnology chip. An invention can be a product – such as a chemical compound, or a process, for example – a process for producing a specific chemical compound. Many products, in fact, contain a number of inventions. For example, a laptop computer can involve hundreds of inventions, working together.

    Why protect inventions with patents?

    The patent owner has the exclusive right to prevent or stop others from commercially exploiting the patented invention for a limited period within the country or region in which the patent was granted. In other words, patent protection means that the invention cannot be commercially made, used, distributed, imported or sold by others without the patent owner's consent. If such acts are carried out by third parties without such consent, the patent owner can go to court to seek remedies for patent infringement.

    How to protect inventions through patents?

    To obtain a patent, an inventor should draft a patent application and then submit it to a national or regional intellectual property (IP) office. This process includes several steps and entails diverse costs, depending on the regional or national laws of the country or countries in which the application is filed.

    An invention can be protected in one or multiple countries, depending on the business strategy and financial resources of the inventors.

    Copyright

    “Copyright (or author’s right) is a legal term used to describe the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture, and films, to computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps, and technical drawings.”

    All project documentation and design work created for MediBee automatically belongs to the creator once it is produced.

    Trademark

    “A trademark is a sign capable of distinguishing the goods or services of one enterprise from those of other enterprises. Trademarks are protected by intellectual property rights.”

    A trademark protects names, logos, symbols, or branding elements associated with a product or organization.

    The name MediBee functions as the identity and branding of the project. Future branding elements could include a logo, packaging design, interface visuals, and promotional materials.

    MediBee is currently an academic prototype and is not registered as an official trademark. However, trademark registration may become relevant if the project evolves into a commercial healthcare product in the future.

    Industrial Design

    “In a legal sense, an industrial design constitutes the ornamental aspect of an article.” "An industrial design may consist of three dimensional features, such as the shape of an article, or two dimensional features, such as patterns, lines or color."

    It is a form of intellectual property that protects the visual design of objects that are not purely utilitarian.

    Geographical Indications

    “A geographical indication (GI) is a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin. In order to function as a GI, a sign must identify a product as originating in a given place."

    In addition, the qualities, characteristics or reputation of the product should be essentially due to the place of origin. Since the qualities depend on the geographical place of production, there is a clear link between the product and its original place of production.

    Trade Secrets

    “Trade secrets are intellectual property (IP) rights on confidential information which may be sold or licensed."

    What qualifies as a trade secret?

    In general, to qualify as a trade secret, the information must be:

    • Commercially valuable because it is secret
    • Be known only to a limited group of persons, and
    • Be subject to reasonable steps taken by the rightful holder of the information to keep it secret, including the use of confidentiality agreements for business partners and employees.

    The unauthorized acquisition, use or disclosure of such secret information in a manner contrary to honest commercial practices by others is regarded as an unfair practice and a violation of the trade secret protection.

    License for my project

    The CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license used for this project falls under Copyright.

    Creative Commons licenses are copyright-based licenses that help creators define how their creative work can be shared, distributed, and reused by others.

    Types of Licenses

    Different licenses define different rules for how software, documentation, designs, and creative work can be used, modified, and shared. The licenses discussed below range from highly permissive licenses to more restrictive reciprocal licenses.

    Permissive Licenses

    Permissive licenses are flexible licenses that allow people to freely use, modify, redistribute, and even commercially use the work with very few restrictions.

    MIT License

    The MIT License is one of the simplest and most commonly used open-source licenses.

    • Allows modification and redistribution
    • Allows commercial use
    • Requires preservation of the original copyright notice

    BSD License

    The BSD License is another permissive license commonly used in academic and networking software projects.

    • Allows reuse and redistribution
    • Allows commercial use
    • Has very few restrictions

    Apache 2.0 License

    The Apache License is similar to MIT but includes additional patent protection clauses.

    • Allows modification and redistribution
    • Allows commercial use
    • Includes patent protection for contributors

    Reciprocal / Copyleft Licenses

    Reciprocal licenses allow people to modify and distribute the work, but require modified versions to also remain open-source.

    GPL (GNU General Public License)

    GPL is a strong copyleft license that requires all modified versions of the software to also be released under the GPL license.

    • Allows modification and redistribution
    • Requires source code disclosure
    • Modified versions must remain open-source

    LGPL (Lesser General Public License)

    LGPL is a weaker version of GPL mainly used for software libraries.

    • Allows linking with proprietary software
    • Modified library code must remain open-source

    AGPL (Affero General Public License)

    AGPL extends GPL requirements to web and server-based software.

    • Requires server-side modified code to be shared
    • Ensures network software remains open-source

    Creative Commons Licenses

    Creative Commons licenses are mainly used for creative and educational content such as documentation, images, videos, websites, and design files.

    CC BY

    • Allows sharing and modification
    • Allows commercial use
    • Requires attribution to the creator

    CC BY-SA

    • Allows modification and redistribution
    • Modified versions must use the same license
    • Requires attribution

    CC BY-NC

    • Allows sharing and modification
    • Does not allow commercial use
    • Requires attribution

    CC BY-ND

    • Allows redistribution of original work
    • Does not allow modified redistribution
    • Requires attribution

    CC BY-NC-SA

    • Does not allow commercial use
    • Modified versions must use the same license
    • Requires attribution

    CC BY-NC-ND

    This is the license used for the MediBee project.

    • Allows sharing of the original work
    • Requires attribution
    • Does not allow commercial use
    • Does not allow redistribution of modified versions

    License Selection

    The Creative Commons license for this project was selected using the official Creative Commons license chooser tool.

    After reviewing the available licensing options, I selected the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license because it allows the project to be shared publicly for educational purposes while protecting it from unauthorized commercial use and redistribution of modified versions.

    License chooser website:https://creativecommons.org/chooser/

    Creative Commons License

    Open-Source Licensing

    Fab Academy encourages open documentation and collaborative learning. To support this approach, MediBee is shared under the:

    CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

    This license includes:

    • BY — Attribution: Proper credit must always be given to the original creator.
    • NC — NonCommercial: The project cannot be used for commercial purposes.
    • ND — NoDerivatives: Modified versions of the project cannot be redistributed.

    This allows students, makers, and researchers to study and share the project for educational purposes while protecting the original work from unauthorized commercial use or modification.

    Why I Chose This License

    I chose the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license because I wanted to openly share the project documentation while still protecting the originality of the work.

    The license supports educational learning and allows others to study the project, reference the design process, and learn from the documentation.

    At the same time, it prevents unauthorized commercial exploitation and redistribution of modified versions without permission. This creates a balance between open knowledge sharing and creator protection.

    Rich Text

    MediBee © 2026 by Merin Cyriac is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

    HTML

    MediBee © 2026 by Merin Cyriac is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

    Progress

    Overall Completion 20%
    PCB Design
    50%
    Fabrication
    0%
    Firmware
    0%
    Mechanical (Fusion)
    60%
    Documentation
    20%
    Testing
    0%

    Task Status

    KiCad schematic — ESP32, ULN2003, DS3231, TP4056 done
    Full project plan + Gantt HTML done
    Enclosure + disc design in Fusion 360 in progress
    3D-print enclosure + disc assembly todo
    Arduino stepper driver (28BYJ-48 + ULN2003) todo
    Arduino servo control for dispense gate todo
    DS3231 RTC alarm + scheduled dispense logic todo
    End-to-end dispense cycle test todo
    Buzzer / LED alert on missed dose todo
    Full Fab Academy documentation page todo
    Presentation video (≤1 min) todo

    Questions to Resolve

    License Links and Icons

    The license section at the bottom of the page contains multiple clickable links and icons that provide additional information about the project and its licensing terms.

    These links help users understand the ownership, usage rights, and documentation source of the project while also giving direct access to the official license information.