SmartyPill: The Smart Pill Dispenser for Everyone

Background

Due to personal health issues, as well as medical circumstances of the elderly in our lives, we've found ourselves constantly looking for better solutions for medical devices. We also wanted to leverage our passions in software development, computer engineering, and mechanical engineering to create a product that has lasting value. As a result, We created this product to solve a growing problem in the U.S., medication adherence. According to the Vintage 2015 Population Estimate, there are 48 million elderly people in the U.S., which is expected to double by 2060. Laguna hospital, a center for addiction treatment, says that 'some elderly people take matters into their own hands by changing their dosage or finding alternatives to getting the medication they think they need.' Combined with the fact that 60% of all seniors who take 5 or more medications say they regularly forget to take their medication, this presents a problem of inconsistent medication adherence in people of all ages, especially the elderly. This product takes existing products to a new level in the smart medical device market by incorporating modern features that are easy to use. This device is perfect for the senior population who is aging AND becoming more tech savvy. It ensures that medication is taken at the proper time, in the proper dosage.

This product features 6 separate pill containers for all your different pills. It dispenses water along with pills for convenience using off the shelf water bottles. It also has customizable LED lights and built in speaker to announce when pills should be taken. On the product, there is a built in display for the user to see when pills need to be taken. The user can also ask Alexa, 'Alexa, when are my pills?,' as Smarty Pill has built in smart home integration. It is also cheaper than competing products on the market with similar feature sets. It is also extremely simple to use: Just set and stay connected. As multiple people can use this device, it's cost effectiveness is a major improvement over other existing products. By having a modular design, it allows the user to buy pill containers for just the pill types they need, saving money when they buy this product, but also down the line if their perscription changes, as they do not need to buy an entire new device. The uniqueness of this product is evidenced by the fact that it was chosen as a finalist in the China US Young Maker Competition. We believe that this product has the potential to be applicable to not just senior citizens, but any adult or child with an illness or disease that requires them to take many medications, multiple times a day. In addition, a companion app is also being developed that will allow family members and physicians to monitor and keep tabs on the patient's device, to make sure that medication is being taken when the device notifies the patient, and that there is no medication abuse by the patient.

What is our vision for this product? Future plans include: implementing multi user system so that multiple patients can use the same dispenser (to add cost benefit to consumer), improving the existing app so that it can receive data in addition to controlling LEDs so that relatives and loved ones can stay informed, and 9 pill containers instead of 6(for more flexibility)

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