The Team

Project Lead: Nina Castillo

Members: Sidhi Barani, Rehan Devaravar, Devin QuinoyNoh Woldeyesus, Ashnu Cassod

Problem Identification

Current pill containers make taking medications a difficult task for elderly people with cognitive and functional limitations which hinders their ability to take medicines accurately, especially when they don’t receive any help at home.

Pain Points

<aside> <img src="/icons/pill_red.svg" alt="/icons/pill_red.svg" width="40px" /> Difficulty opening screw cap medication bottles, snap lid medication bottles, and blister packs.

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<aside> <img src="/icons/pill_red.svg" alt="/icons/pill_red.svg" width="40px" /> Trouble reading labels and comprehending when to accurately take medicine.

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Market Research

• 14.6% of patients were unable to open one or more of the pill containers (screw cap, snap lid, and blister packs)
• 20.1% of patients had errors in the cognitive tests relating to taking medicine dosages correctly
• 9.4% of patients could not read the label instructions correctly
• 31.8% of patients lived alone with no help at home

Ideation

Automatic pill dispenser using a gear that rotates every X amount of time to drop the correct dosage

<aside> <img src="/icons/close_red.svg" alt="/icons/close_red.svg" width="40px" /> Problem: don’t need/want it to be locked in case of malfunctions

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Automatic pill dispenser using a locking mechanism to drop pills only at a specific time

<aside> <img src="/icons/close_red.svg" alt="/icons/close_red.svg" width="40px" /> Problem: someone has to insert pills in correct orientation so it falls in the gear correctly

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Automatic pill dispenser with two compartments: top (pill holder in a funnel shape to correctly orient pills), bottom (rotating pill catcher/holder to drop pills)

<aside> <img src="/icons/checkmark-line_green.svg" alt="/icons/checkmark-line_green.svg" width="40px" /> Chosen design

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Technical Development

Go To Market

Sales Plan:

Goal: We want to advertise and sell our product to elderly people with cognitive and functional impairments Sales Process: We will sell the EasyPill on our website; easypill.com, and through multiple pharmaceutical retailers like CVS and Walgreens Marketing Strategies: Social Media Advertising (Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram), Medical Consumer Websites Advertising (WebMD, MedicineNet) Barriers to Entry: FDA Approval Competitors: Hero, e-Pill MedSmart Plus, Medacube

Project Reflection

Challenges:

1. Figuring out a way to ensure pills fall in the correct orientation
2. Electrical component issues with power supply (fixed by changing board)

Successes:

1. Teamwork and collaboration
2. Problem-solving skills
   1. Worked with various materials to try and fix the pill jamming issue and was able to decrease the pill jamming by a small percent
3. Almost functioning product (varying success rate)
4. Solves pain points of the consumer