CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Patients rely on their medications to keep them healthy, but complex medication
schedules can lead to mistakes: missing doses, taking incorrect amounts, or taking medicines at
the wrong times. These mistakes could lead to unnecessary doctor or hospital visits, illness and
even death. The medication dispensing and alerting system will be an aid for the patients,
especially the seniors for taking their medications properly in the prescribed amount at the right
time. The project can thus help in:

Taking medication on schedule

Reduce the risk of unplanned hospital or doctor visits related to incorrect medication use

Reduce the risk of accidental over or under dosing when no one is there to help

There is also an alerting system along with this, which gives an alert when the number of
doses gets missed and a reminder when medication doses need refilling.
The medications are put into individual cups and loaded. The medication schedule is

given and the controller is programmed. A reminder will now work on the basis of the
programmed time by providing a sound. An LCD display will now show the medication details.
The user can now press the key and the medicine will be provided to him. The information
regarding the dispensing of the medicine will be sent to the user or a family member through
telephoning or by SMS system. This will ensure whether the medicine is taken or not.
The microcontroller used here is FRDM-KL25Z. It features a KL25Z128VLK, a device
boasting a maximum operating frequency of 48MHz, 128KB of flash, a full-speed USB
controller, and loads of analog and digital peripherals. The on-board interfaces include an RGB
LED, a 3-axis digital accelerometer, and a capacitive touch slider. A prototype is made with each
bins loaded with medicines for the scheduled time. By programming and setting the RTC, the
LED will blink indicating the correct medicine to be dispensed and a voice annunciation is also
provided.