Transcript Presentation 1 - Research

Group 14
RERC Automatic
Medication Dispenser
Ben Roberts – BME
Nicole Riddle – BME
Daniel Pierre – EE
Kevin Kirby – EE
Zac Wingard - ME
Faculty Advisor
• Franz Josef Baudenbacher
– Department of Physics & Astronomy
Vanderbilt University
– Teaches:
• BME 271 Instrumentation
• BME 274 BioMEMS
RERC on Accessible Medical
Instrumentation’s 2005-2006 National
Student Design Competition
Open to U.S. programs in biomedical and mechanical engineering,
industrial design, and related disciplines.
Programs receive up to $2000 in reimbursement for design costs.
First prize: $1000, Second prize: $750, Third prize: $500.
$500 awards also available for registration/travel to present a related
paper accepted at a major conference.
Problem Statement
•Design an Accessible
Medication Dispensing
Device. The device must
be automated, and
capable of dispensing
drugs only to a specific
patient, and with patientspecific doses.
Aims
– Affordable
– Dependable
– Simple
– Safe
– Flexible
– Scalable
Specifications
•Needs to:
–Cut pills into halves or
quarters.
–Dispense medications.
•Ideally, it will:
–Interpret a container’s
bar code
–Track medication
expiration dates
–Remind users to take
their medications
–Track what medications
have already been
dispensed
Clients
•Bruce
–Born in 1960
–Due to renal failure, he takes a large
number of medications daily.
• Mary
- Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1994 at age 59
- Poor eyesight.
• Sophia
-Born in 1970
- Emigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1987.
- Had several small strokes in 2003, and takes heparin as a
precautionary measure.
- Has limited right arm function
The Competition
• Products by E-pill
– Med-Time ($230)
– MD.2 ($750)
– CompuMed ($1,000)
• Main Lacking features:
– Pill information input
– No automatic sorting
– No auto pill-cutting
– Limited storage
Market Potential
• Target Customer Base:
– Elderly or others with large prescription
regimens.
– Clinical environment with modest dispensing
needs
• Potential Competitive Advantages:
–
–
–
–
Pill sorting
Expiration Monitoring
Pill chopping
Bar Code Scanning
Completed Thus Far
• 2 Design ideas
–Prototype in parallel
–Learn pros and cons of each
• Prototyping
–Tray / Razor Blade Array
–Conveyor belt
• Pills in a single file
First Design Idea : Tray
Second Design Idea: Conveyor Belt
Conveyor Belt Cutting System
It’s a conveyor belt
Pour the pills in
Magic at work #1
… #2
… magic
Future Work: The Next Steps
• Prototyping Round #1:
– Which design is best?
• Conveyor sorting and chopping mechanism
• Tray molds and razor arrays
• CCD and Photodiode Control
Research
– How can we take advantage of photo
sensing technology in the conveyor
approach?
References
•
•
•
National Drug Code Directory: http://www.fda.gov/cder/ndc/
Wikipedia Article on Stepper Motors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor
E-pill products: http://www.epill.com/dispenser.html