The context of the problem we are working on is that the medicine reminder is especially for the elderly. We did research on the state of the art of the problem we are working on, and we found a vast number of different ideas to solve this problem. Despite so much innovation done on this, we found that not many old people actually use these products, especially in India. This is because most of the products are designed for the general public (as young people also need reminders to take their medicines) and no product is designed keeping in mind the problems faced by the elderly. Let us have a look at the detailed analysis of two product designs that we looked at and found them relevant to our context (and close to the design we had in mind).
MedMinder Pill Dispenser
The MedMinder dispenser user interface allows you to remotely manage and pre-set the reminders, custom greetings from the grandchildren and family picture uploads.
With MedMinder, you are able to manage dosages in real-time, and review thorough reports on the usage and progress of your parents’ activity.
- Real-Time Alerts via email or text
- Receive weekly summary reports
- Login anytime to review detailed activity
For more information about this product, please have a look here. Here are some of the problems that we found with this design:
1) This product is very costly. It costs around 3700 Rs and this is one of the reasons that people will not be willing to buy this product.
2) It is very useful when old people have someone to take care of them so that they can remotely set reminders and if the pill isn't taken on time, they'll receive a call or text. But in most of the cases, no one is willing to spend so much time on setting reminders and filling the trays with different pills every month. This product targets the children having old parents rather than the elderly.
3) This system has many useful features, but unfortunately, if we consider the case of the old people in India, they aren't very good with technology and most of them aren't even able to read. So, it is difficult for them to operate such devices.
4) The design of this product is inspired by a laptop. It isn't very easy to carry and also the device can be easily damaged by falling.
E-pill Once-a-Day Reminder
Key Features:Last Opened: Displays the time and day of the week the pill bottle was last opened.
Alarms: Up to 24 on-the-hour alarms. The alarm will sound for 10 seconds and the display will flash until the cap is removed from the bottle. All alarms automatically repeat every day.
Missed Dose Indicator: If the display is flashing the bottle was never opened during the set alarm time.
Stay Safe: If you have several different medications best practice is to have a different Multi-Alarm TimeCap device for each medication. We strongly recommend using one and only one TimeCap and Bottle per-prescription so different medications are not mixed together in the same bottle.
Here is our review of this project design:
1) It's a nice idea of putting a cap with an alarm on the bottles which makes the design similar to normal medicine bottles and is easy to carry.
2) We find some features such as the last-opened feature unnecessary. Also, the product is complicated to use. Please find information about how to use this product in this video.
3) The product can be made cheaper by doing some changes in the design.
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