For people who regularly take medication, keeping to a fixed schedule can quickly become confusing. It is particularly difficult to keep track of several preparations. Mellow_Labs has therefore developed an automated pill dispenser that dispenses the right pills at the right time.
The housing of the dispenser consists of 3D-printed components. In its current design, the system has two main containers, each of which holds one type of medication. Dispensing is carried out by N20 geared motors that rotate the containers until a pill falls through a slot. A piezo sensor detects the fall of the tablet and confirms successful dosing.
The system is controlled by a compact microcontroller with WLAN functionality. A real-time clock module ensures that the medication is dispensed at the programmed time. A DRV8833 motor driver, which can operate up to four motors simultaneously, is used to control the motors. This means that the dispenser can be expanded to hold up to four medication containers.
A practical detail is the web-based user interface. The ESP32 hosts a simple web interface that can be used to customize the dosing schedule. Users can thus determine when which tablet should be dispensed without additional apps or complicated configurations.
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