To create a smaller, good-looking, "market-ready" prototype.
Carousel driven by gear, not directly driven by stepper motor.
Carousel placed on a plate that moves up and down z-axis while vacuum tip is stationary (more space efficient).
Sleek sheet metal exterior.
Test cut on spare MDF
Carousel driven by gear and motor, z axis controlled by lead screw
Carousel top view
Assortment of components and test prints
Buttons for Pill selection
Electronics housed below Carousel Plate
Individuals with limited mobility diseases such as Parkinson's or severe arthritis often struggle to open pill bottles. In addition, it is common for such people to need many medications on a daily basis. Therefore, an easier way to organize and dispense pills could lead to a significant impact on the quality of life for Parkinson's patients, the elderly, those with severe arthritis, or anyone who wants an easy way to organize their medicines and have them automatically dispensed.
The user loads pills into a carrousel with separate hoppers for different medications.
Workflow is similar to a claw machine:
A pill is selected by the user
Carrousel turns so the correct pill will be picked up by the vacuum tip
After a pill is grabbed, the vacuum tip drops it into a dispensing cup
Two carousel sections have holes, one on each side to limit the distance the carousel must move.
A useful automated pill dispenser must be able to accommodate medicines of any shape or size. Therefore, a vacuum system was developed to hold a pill via negative pressure to a silicon tip and dispense it into a cup in a workflow similar to a claw machine.
Trypanophobia, or the fear of needles, can be especially difficult and traumatic for those who need lifesaving injections to prevent anaphylactic shock (extreme allergic reactions). The goal of this project was to create a cheap, easy way to inject epinephrin without the use of needles.
To deliver epinephrine without the use of needles, the drug is ejected out of the device in a high pressure jet. To minimize damage to tissue, the jet's diameter is on the order of micrometers. The high pressure is generated when an inert gas cartridge is punctured by a needle.
As a freshman with little design experience, this project was an incredible opportunity for me to gain hands-on, engineering experience. I embraced the task of crafting the device's workflow, though I did not design many of its mechanical components. In addition, I learned the basics of CAD (Solidworks) and used this knowledge to design the smaller, simple components of the device. Lastly, I assumed a large research role, which had an immense impact on the overall mechanism of needleless injection.