For some people the process of remembering to take their medication on the correct time of day can be a challenge, and no doubt a worry for family members or friends when helping them in their daily activities. However with the help of the Arduino platform and the following project by Instructables member jschrempp you can make your own pill reminder which is neat and easy to use.
The system uses an Arduino Uno or compatible board and a custom-made shield to control the LCD, control buttons and indicator LEDs to alert the user as to which pill box ot open and consume the contents. Furthermore the laser-cut enclosure gives a usable appearance and keeps the electronics away from harm. The creator runs through the unit in the following video:
A fantastic solution to a common problem, and one that can be modified at will. You can find the details including PCB and more from the project Instructable page. And for more, we're on facebook, twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
The most important part of any clock or timer-based project is the inclusion of an accurate real-time clock IC. Here at Freetronics we have the Maxim DS3232 real-time clock IC module:
Apart from keeping accurate time for years due to the temperature-controlled oscillator and having a tiny coin-cell for backup, it is very simple to connect to your Arduino project. A driver library allows your program to easily set or read the time and date. Perfect for clock projects, dataloggers or anything that needs to know the date and time. Furthermore it contains a digital thermometer and 236 bytes of non-volatile memory to store user settings and other data. For more information, check out the module page here.
