Medication Alert

The fourth prototyping prompt for my Prototyping for Experience Design elective was “Create a device that will sense that an object is in its proper place and provide feedback.” I designed an intelligent bathroom gadget that can identify when a medication supply is running dangerously low, and enclosed the electronics in an attractive 3D-printed case.

To design this prototype, I first thought about the Sparkfun electronics kit we were provided and the opportunities that the different sensors could allow. I then thought about problems I’ve experienced and how I could use the tools at my disposal to solve them. I thought back to all the times I almost ran out of ADHD medication, and I knew I had a great design concept on my hands.

Like many of my projects, I moved into SOLIDWORKS to continue to flesh out the concept. For this prototype I was okay with leaving unattractive access points for the light sensor and the RGB LED, since I knew future revisions would shrink the electronics package and further refine the design.

To create the feedback system necessary to detect the medication level, I used the Arduino coding skills I acquired in my mechanical engineering studies. If you want to check out the code in more detail, click here!

My final prototype was a massive success. I even impressed myself with how well the prototype functioned under different conditions. If I had more time, I would have begun researching custom PCBs that would allow me to design a more refined prototype.