Technology and Low Fidelity Prototype

Identification for Scheduling and Sorting

RFID is neither precise nor inexpensive enough for our prototype. The current sensor is too large to use as a single cell grid, and cannot determine the position of a cell on the platform to use it for the entire grid. Purchasing more sensors would be too costly.

Computer vision requires a camera, computer and software. The lab, the internet, and our programmers can provide those. Furthermore, computer vision can identify the presence of individual objects in view if they have been previously registered. It can also determine to location and orientation of the objects on a single plane (perpendicular to the viewing angle).

Two methods may be used to identify the pills: color or registered patterns. Color would allow for low fidelity prototypes to look simpler, because the "pills" could look like actual pills. Registered patterns however, may be easier as both TopCodes and AR Toolkit employ this method and both are robust enough for our purposes.

We are currently looking into adjusting AR Toolkit to identify colors, but are prepared to use patterns for the prototype.

Initial Prototypes

Made from Crayola clay and some other white modeling material. Includes schedule grid, storage containers, pills, and possible travel pill-box designs

Random design concerns for the project

Our main goal might be to create an intuitive Tangible user interface for Scheduling the pills. The use of the schedule and the pills make it a much bigger design problem, most of which does not involve a TUI. These are Dan's initial thoughts about the device as if it were aiming to be a complete commercial product with all of the following functions:

Pill Scheduler, Pill Dispenser, Alarm System, Compliance Checker.

Scheduling

Use multiple of same kind of pills
visually can see with 100% fidelity which drug and how many at a given time and over the entire schedule
when doing repeated input , planning to take a second pill corresponds to grabbing another pill
Physical manipulation of small objects
the visual angle of the objects are small (identitfication
Bottle as a token (no longer need to use RFID, could use the barcode)
Larger yet perhaps less meaningful object (bottles all look the same)
No need to use the small pills
No physical or visual feed back
Would have to have compute identity multiple times
Repeated input would require a less intuitive procedure
Flexible Token? (can use almost any sensing mechanism)
Large enough to handle
Match it to the bottle/ pill then use it to schedule
Could have larger display of pill name or picture
Again, repeated input problems and feed back problems

Saving it
Pills
Press save button and they actually go into machine
What about tomorrow? How do the pills get in there?
Press save then allow for setting and manipulation to multiple days then into machine
Bottle/ token
Press save and put contents of bottle into machine

Manipulation
Creation of a Day Schedule token? Similar to the media blocks
Saves schedules to a token
place token on days of the week which also have that schedule?

What about Every other day pills?

Physical shape

Pills as input
craters with smooth edges? within days? within time blocks?
A home crater for the unused pills to the side? (Might not work if there are craters for each week day
has canals to the time blocks?
Has pour out funnel for left over pills?
What is the process?
One kind of medication at a time (if doing one day device)
One kind medication at a time if doing a week device?

Where does the save button go?

Mistakes?
what if they want to edit it? Does it spit out pills in their schedule for them to manipulate? Does it use video? Does it require you to just make a whole new schedule?

Schedule checker? is this schedule the right schedule?

Compliance?
Probably the most critical problem(in real life), prospective memory is just a part of it
weight? shape, size, color, RFID? buttons? if they open the container?

Container
Should have a clock and day of the week?
Is it put in the same spot every day of the week? or adifferent spot? Will there be measures to prevent putting it in the wrong spot?
will the machine check if it’s there?
Will the container check it its put back?

Feedback
Amplification of analog? Crude example: magnifying glass
Digital? Pictures? Text? Both?

The Project

The group initially considered making a 3-D version of tangrams to be called Tangigrams. Our multiple-pieces-of-cunning idea was abandoned, because it was considered to have an easy implementation and shallow interaction with limited feedback.

Andy suggested the idea of a gerontechnology product, specifically a medication scheduler and dispenser.

Current products range from low-tech pill boxes to electronic alarm systems, but neither kinds can easily account for complex medication schedules, allow for a level of automation. More robust systems can require training or significant assistance to use. See www.epill.com for examples. The goals of these products include: to aid in prospective memory, to check for compliance, to allow flexible administration within a given day, to make portable storage and alarms, and to organize dosages.

The general goal of our project is to create an interface that allows users to use the pills themselves to set their weekly medication schedule. This includes using the pills for setting the alarms and to program the daily dispensing of the medications into a portable pill-box.

The idea relies on a belief that tangible interaction is easier to learn and inherently meaningful.

Here is a brief user scenario:

Theodore gathers his bottles of medications. He opens a bottle and pours out some pills onto a table. From this pile of pills, he takes one and places onto the top surface of the Scheduler, specifically on the top left cell of a grid on the surface. The grid is made of 7 columns for the 7 days of the week and 3 rows for three different times of the day. This particular cell, according to the axes labels, corresponds to Monday morning. Theodore continues to place pills onto the grid according to the "once-a-day" schedule on the pill bottle. When he is done, he pours the remaining pills into the machine, then repeats this process with the other medications.

Once he is done scheduling the pills, he saves the schedule, the pills on the grid enter the machine, and he walks away. The next morning, he removes a travel container-pill-box from the base of the machine. It has three compartments, one for three different times of the day. Each compartment contains all the pills he is supposed to take for that time of the day.

At the end of the day, he replaces the pill-box into the machine, so that tomorrow, it will be full with the next day's pills.