Innovation Situation Questionnaire
Project name: RERC Automatic Pill Dispenser
Project timeline: The automatic pill dispenser must be completed by mid April.
Project team: Ben Roberts, Daniel Pierre, Kevin Kirby, Nikki Riddle, Zac Wingard
Brief description of the situation
Our group is tasked with building an automatic medication dispenser device capable of reading a medication’s barcode to gather pertinent information, cutting the medications in half if so desired, and storing the medications to be released on a user-programmed schedule.
Detailed description of the situation
Supersystem – System – Subsystems
System Nomenclature
The following are systems for the situation
- Medication Barcode system
- Pill Chopping system
- Pill Sorting system
- Pill Storage system
- Pill Dispensing system
- Environmental Control system
- Overall Control system
The Medication Barcode system is used to gather pertinent medication information, such as what type of medication it is, the medication expiration date, and the medication lot number (in case the medication is recalled). The problem is how to interface this information with a computer and then with the outside world (in case recalls need to be made).
The Pill Chopping system is very mechanically complex since it is ideal if it chops the significant number of pills the user puts into the medication dispenser. The pill chopping system has to cut a wide variety of shapes and sizes of pills in half.
The Pill Sorting system is also very mechanically complex since it is ideal to sort through a variety of shapes, sizes, and numbers of pills that may be whole or just cut in half.
The Pill Dispensing system has to dispense a variety of shapes, sizes, and numbers of pills according to the user’s prescription.
The Environmental Control system has to keep the variety of pills in an environment that is conducive to long pill shelf life, regardless of what the outside environmental conditions are.
The Overall Control system has to control all the above mentioned systems. Ouch.
Current System Structure
There are a variety of medication storage devices, dispensing devices, and chopping devices. None are integrated altogether.
Input – Process – Output
Functioning of the system
There are two chief approaches of the functionality of the system:
1. User scans pills in barcode, puts in pills, the pills are chopped (if so desired), then stored, then dispensed.
2. User scans pills in barcode, puts in pills, the pills are stored, then chopped (if so desired) right before dispensing.
It has been decided that the first approach is most reasonable.
System inputs
A variety of pills are put into the system
System outputs
A combination of pills are dispensed according to user’s medication regime, chopped if so desired.
Cause – Problem – Effect
Problem to be resolved
For patients with a variety of medications and a complex medication regime, especially if the patients are impaired, it is difficult for patients to sort and self-medicate.
Mechanism causing the problem
- the shear numbers of different kinds of pills
- the time-consuming and confusing process of chopping and sorting aforementioned variety of pills
- mental and physical impairment of patients who are attempting to self-medicate
- mechanical difficulty of sorting, chopping, and dispensing aforementioned variety of pills in automatic fashion
Undesirable consequences if the problem is not resolved
DEATH
Other problems to be solved
- It would be nice to have a modular system so that several patients, or simply more types of pills could be incorporated into the system.
- Easy visual instructions for operating the automatic medical dispenser
- Networking capability
Past – Present – Future
History of the problem
The S, M, T, W, Th, F, S pill containers are most basic, but the user has to chop the pills separately with inefficient manual methods. As of now there are no automatic pill chopping devices in existence. Some automated pill dispensers are available, but they are very expensive, difficult to use, and have very limited capacity.
Resources, constraints, and limitations
Available resources
Material resources
Anything we can buy with our $2,000 budget.
Informational resources
Nothing especially noteworthy.
Allowable changes to the system
We can do anything as long as it works.
Constraints and limitations
Monetary concerns: We cannot exceed our $2,000 budget.
Time: It must be completed by mid-April.
Criteria for selecting solution concepts
Does it work reliably?
Problem Formulation and Brainstorming
Chief Design Idea #1: Pill Mold Tray Drawer/Blade Array Design
- The pill dispenser is designed much like a dresser, with trays stacked upon each other. Each tray is specific to a particular size and shape of a pill.
- User pulls out desired tray and dumps pills onto tray, spreads them out and the pills fall into molds that are specific to the pill size and shape. User then shuts the tray drawer.
- Regardless of pill shape or size, the trays are oriented into the exact same chopping position. An array of blades above each tray descends via stepper motor/cam apparatus and chops in the pills in half. Blades stay down, in the molds, separating the pill halves.
- To dispense pills a motor pushes a row of pills on a tray the distance of one pill (or one half pill) and the half or whole pill falls into a dispensing funnel.
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Chief Design Idea #2: Linear System by Intelligent Obstacles
- User dumps an amount of one kind of pill into a funnel, where the pills fall onto a conveyor belt.
- The conveyor belt has a series of baffles to force the pills to travel into a single file line.
- When the first pill reaches the end of the conveyor belt it falls onto a declined slotted pill tray. It slides past a photodiode and the control system stops the conveyor belt.
- The pill descends the tray, stopping at the end of the tray where it is between an LED light and a CCD array. The control system reads the data, determining the halfway point along the pill length.
- A wire saw descends cutting the pill in half (if so desired), and the pill falls into a system of rotatable pill storage and dispensing compartments.
- The conveyor belt starts again, dropping another pill onto the tray and the process repeats.
- Find an alternative way to obtain Half of pill is individually stored that offers the following: provides or enhances Pill dispensed according to schedule does not require Wire saw cuts pill in half.dirtype_1
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