Smart Pillbox System

Author : Wei-Chih Hsu, Wen-Wei Chang, Chi-Wei Kuo

Abstract :

Due to the progress of healthcare and medical service, the average human life has been extended recently. Therefore, aging society is one of the main issues for most of the countries in the world. In Taiwan, the population of senior citizens is about 10.2% in 2007, and the percentage will certainly increase in near future. According the Department of Health, more than 50% senior citizens have 3 or more chronic diseases. Therefore, the issues related to the medication for senior citizens have drawn intensive attentions recently. For example, the complexity of medication for senior citizens frequently results in errors in medicine taking, or wasting medicines due to ignorance. The former might cost a life at certain critical conditions, and the latter might cost significant healthcare resources.

In this project, we propose to develop a wireless sensing smart medication system which can effectively provide the reminder functions for senior citizens to take medicines on time. The wireless sensor node boards developed and provided by the Program Office will be used as the wireless modules for smart pillboxes. Various medicine sensing technologies, such as capacitive sensing and infrared sensing mechanisms, will be developed for detecting pills. Also, human-computer interface techniques will be employed for developing optimal user interfaces. Protocols of wireless network will be implemented between many smart pill-boxes. A backend server will also be developed for monitoring, recording, synchronizing and updating medication processes. Finally, usability testing and market study will also be conduct to modify the design and the functionality of the prototype of the smart medication system.