Ideation

Written Ideas/sketches/drawings/images with descriptions.

Initially, there would be four tubes that holds all the pills. The tubes are removable and placed in the funnel mechanism. The user would be able to colour code the pills they are taking. The pills will then be collated into the box at the bottom of the funnel. The user would also have a numberpad to input the number of pills that users need to take.

We also thought we should have a wheel with pills. There will be an opening for the pills to be expelled from.

This were our inital plans for a pill popper. There would have been two pressing mechanisms that is able to simulate normal fingers popping the pills. However, we decided it would be too complicated and time-consuming to complete in this special term duration.

We then decided to revamp our machine to have four separate cups that will store all the pills needed and dispense one at a time by rotation. There would be a funnel that collected the pills dispensed by each cup and drop them into the final cup at the bottom of the machine. The cups and the motors that rotated the disk within would be placed on a tilted platform.

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Final Product

Final Product images/videos with descriptions.

Key Features of our Prototype

1. Dispensing Cups + Dispensing Cup Supports

• 3 dispensing cups for 3 types of pills

• Lids allow labelling of pill types in dispensing cups

• Inner discs customized for common pill types

• Pegs hold dispensing cup supports at fixed angles

• Dispensing cup supports lock dispensing cups and pill stoppers in place while motors turn to dispense pills

• Pill stopper ensure single pill dispensed each time

2. Stepper Motors + Shafts + Motor Supports

• Stepper motors rotate inner discs to dispense pills

• 3D-printed extension of shafts are cross-shaped with corresponding hole in inner disc

• Trapezoid motor supports are space-efficient

3. Curved Tubes

• Varying lengths and angles ensure that pills dispensed onto the slide do not bounce

4. Slide

• Has adjustable height

• Wall curvature prevents pills from getting stuck

• Laser and laser sensor attached to the end of the slide detect each successfully dispensed pill

5. Collection Cup

• Has high wall to prevent pills from flying out

• Load cell below the collection cup detects when user has lifted it and removed all the pills inside

6. Speaker

• Alert users when pills are dispensed

• Prompt users to remove all pills from collection cup

7. Touchscreen + Raspberry Pi 3B+

• Accepts user input for specific time to dispense specific quantity of each type of pills

8. Arduino Mega

• Connected to motors, sensors and speaker