Requirements Capture:Requirementr.doc
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ECE 405 Senior Design III
Requirements Capture January 20th, 2006
Automated Medicine Dispenser
Group 253-Kavasserri
Patrick Beaver Rachel Dorry Dan Bowen
INTRODUCTION:
The task we have been given is to come up with an automated medicine dispenser that will aid either elderly, handicap or group home patients with administering and taking pills at appropriate times. This dispenser should be able to be programmed by either a nurse or a caretaker for the times of day that certain pills should be taken. The problem at hand includes patients not being able to remember quantity or time for the pills to be taken, where a supervisor may not be able to administer the correct doses and times for several different patients.
We are planning to work with SVEE Home and we are going to gear this dispenser for the group home situation. SVEE Home is a group home that encourages an independent lifestyle for mildly handicap individuals. We have met with our clients and they have introduced us to the environment that the residents of the house live in. The primary goal of our medicine dispenser is to remind the residents to take pills without having to personally administer each dose. This dispenser will allow the staff to monitor doses for the safety of the residents but simultaneously allowing the residents to assume responsibilities in their life.
PREVIOUS WORK:
In researching automated medicine dispensers we found that there are many different types available. Part of our research included visiting with some nurses at St. Mary’s Hospital in Detroit Lakes. These nurses discussed pros and cons of the medicine dispenser that they were using and had ideas to improve. The dispenser we looked at was a floor to ceiling model that was controlled by a computer network to the pharmacy and was able to closely monitor exact amounts of medicine being distributed. We found that the use of this was generally to prevent against drug abuse by patients and staff.
Other dispensers were much smaller models. These models differed in size, price, and technical abilities. Some were smaller for travel and others were larger for home use. Certain models were very generic in design and process. These models would have the patient pre-distribute the dosages for up to a week at a time. Other models were capable of being programmed to sort and count the dosages for the patient and inform him or her when the pills should be taken.
The specific model we were looking at was the CompuMed model. This incorporated the use of a small microcontroller to be programmed and also use a display for the patient and supervisor. The distributing method used is a pre-sorted system where a nurse or caretaker will pre-sort appropriate dosages and the patient will be reminded when he or she needs to take the pills. The patient will not be responsible for having to remember how many pills to take throughout the day.
REQUIREMENTS:
While creating the design criteria for the automated medicine dispenser, we soon realized that there are requirements to this project that are necessary to the safety of the client. This dispenser must be able to not only allow clients to receive doses when needed but also prevent any sort of overdosing or tampering with the device. We have listed the requirements that are important to design of our dispenser:
1. Digital display of date and time 2. Programmable microcontroller 3. 12 key keypad that will allow the staff to program the dispenser 4. Light and sound alarm that will remind client to take medication 5. Refillable compartments 6. Wall plug in 7. Lock-out feature to prevent abuse 8. Will hold up a seven day supply of pills 9. Capable of distributing 3 doses a day 10. Each compartment will hold up to 12 medium size pills 11. Tamper proof and sturdy
Features that are imperative to our project include the lock-out feature, tamper proof casing, and the light/sound reminder. These features will protect the safety of the residents as well as allow the staff to feel secure about a device they are using in their home. Other requirements that were set by SVEE Home was that the dispenser be capable of administering pills up to three times daily, compartments hold maximum of 12 medium sized pills and that they only have to program the chip once a week.
A few of the other features are included so we are able to automate the dispenser. The keypad, microcontroller and display will allow the client to program the chip inside the device that will control dispensing of pills. We decided to use a wall outlet to make the device more efficient to the client.
Budget:
• PIC16F876a $7.33 per/unit • 12V Stepper Motor $16.20 per/unit • Polycarbonate Casing $500.00 • LCD Display $30.00 per/unit • RF Transmitter/Receiver $150.00 per/unit • Plug-In Cord $4.06 per/unit
Total: $707.59
