PillSort

This assistant is intended to help with medication setup for patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and caregivers, since organizing many medications may be confusing and frustrating.

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Inspiration

We were inspired by the struggles of those with MCI and their families, especially regarding self-administration of medicine. Keeping track of multiple medications is an arduous task, even for those without MCI. An audio assistant eliminates the roadblock of physical interaction with technology (especially for those who are uncomfortable with new machinery), but still provides an easy-to-follow and impossible-to-misplace set of instructions to simplify this process.

What it does

This project is intended to guide the user in preparing their weekly pills in a pillbox, going through step by step in a set of instructions approved and created by a medical professional or family members of the patient.

How I built it

We used the Amazon Development Kit to create a new Alexa skill to assist in medication setup through verbal instruction. The specific medication profiles can be gathered through a web form, which we built using Google Forms, Python Anywhere (Flask), and Python. The profiles would then be transferred to the Alexa, which would run a customized program based on the profile.

Challenges I ran into

  1. Despite working in a language we were familiar with (Python), doing in a way so that was compatible with Alexa and Flask required quite a steep learning curve.
  2. This is our first hackathon, and we may have underestimated the scope of the project.
  3. We have limited development experience, so we were learning a lot along the way.
  4. Since there were no rules or guidelines, we had to self-delegate and motivate ourselves to organize the project, which proved a task as challenging as the programming itself.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

  1. We have a unique idea, and if fully implemented, we know this would be a benefit to many who live with MCI.
  2. We learned a lot about development and industry work, as well as coding under pressure.
  3. We met many wonderful people and made lasting friendships in CS.
  4. We're proud that we gave it a shot, and we are choosing to be excited about the parts of our project that were successful!

What I learned

We learned basics of voice user interfaces and respective function calls, as well as web development and such with Python. No matter how many classes one may take in CS, there is always some new technology that is out there to learn about.

What's next for PillSort

We continue familiarizing ourselves with the technology and equipment this project requires, and we hope to eventually create our fully implemented model.

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