Smart Pill Dispenser for Children - An EPS@ISEP 2024 Project

People around the globe struggle with health issues requiring regular medication. Children, in particular, suffer more and more from chronic illnesses. In 2024, a team of six EPS@ISEP students chose to design a solution for this problem, followed by the assembly and testing of the corresponding proof-of-concept prototype. The aim was to design a solution for children to take the right medication, at the right time and in the right dose, in a pleasant and engaging way, based on technical, ethical, sustainability and market analyses. Focusing on children between the ages of 8 and 12, the team decided to incorporate a motivational system based on rewards to ensure that they take their medication correctly. The outcome is billy, a pill dispenser controlled via an app which allows carers to plan doses and release rewards, and children to autonomously take their medication. The system dispenses up to 21 doses of medication to the child through fingerprint authentication, and photographs the child taking the medication to reassure carers.

Keywords

Engineering education European Project Semester Pill dispenser for children Smart device

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/29909

Citation

Lena Ehrenhofer, Łukasz Borowski, Noé Oliveira, Stijn Steyaert, Tamara Kronshagen, Tibo Clauwaert, Abel J. Duarte, Benedita Malheiro, Cristina Ribeiro, Jorge Justo, Manuel Silva, Paulo Ferreira & Pedro Guedes (2025). "Smart Pill Dispenser for Children – An EPS@ISEP 2024 Project", Futureproofing Engineering Education for Global Responsibility – Volume 3. ICL 2024. Ed. Michael E. Auer, Tiia Rüütmann, Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, Vol. 1280, Springer, Cham, Switzerland, ISBN 978-3-031-83522-3, 407-417. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-83523-0_38.