3D Printing a Smart Pillbox with Neural Network Image Recognition


Hospital pharmacists have their hands full, as they have to handle a wide variety of medications. They need to keep the medicine safe, and no matter how hard we may try, people aren’t perfect, so processes like these are always subject to human error. One way to solve this is by using a pill dispensing system , which can be fabricated with 3D printing . Five researchers from Taiwan published a paper, titled “ Development of Smart Pillbox Using 3D Printing Technology and Convolutional Neural Network Image Recognition ,” about the automated system they developed that makes it more accurate and simple to dispense medication.
“Safety in taking medicine is important in health care. In this study, we propose a complete concept of an active smart pillbox, which comprises a main control unit, a pill dispenser unit, and an application software (app) for the automatic dispensing of medicine. The smart pillbox employs convolutional neural network image recognition and 3D printing technology,” the abstract states.
They designed the system as a 3D-printed mechanism, which uses an Arduino-based platform to control its movement, and a mobile app to set the parameters via smartphone. The app sets the type of medication, and what time it should be taken, and the smartphone will then transmit the selected settings through Bluetooth to the main platform.
“The Arduino (master) sends the action commands through a MAX485 to the Arduino (slave). The Arduino (slave) receives the command and starts the action. In the Arduino (slave) action process, the main Arduino (master) continues transmitting the message to each Arduino (slave) and completes the actions for each Arduino (slave). After completely dispensing the pills, the main Arduino (master) returns the message to the smartphone to inform the user taking the medicine,” the researchers explained.

The pillbox system was designed in Solidworks, and it was 3D printed, along with the rotating gear.

At first, a button setting isused to operate the smart pillbox, but eventually, the mobile app will define which of the pills should be dispensed, and then set the medication commands for when they should be dropped.

“To increase the number of types of pills that can be stored, the Arduino (master) gives instructions to the slave through MAX485, sets the number of each type of pill, and operates the system,” they wrote. “The times when the pills should be dropped are set, according to the arranged kit number. Multiple times can be set, and the user is reminded to take the medicine at these different times.”
Once the amount of pills to be dispensed is set, the Arduino controller gives a command to start both the motor and the sensor. The motor gears drive the gears that connect to the rotating teeth, which then rotate the pill dispensary. Then, once the pill arrives at the chute, it’s dropped through, and a sensor counts the number of pills...

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