Introduction

The motivation behind this project is to create a healthcare product that will in some way improve  peoples’ everyday lives. The overall goal is to plan, design, build and test a product in order to gain engineering and teamwork skills while solving real world issues. The major tasks of the project begin with studying past solutions and brainstorming ways to make possible improvements. Once an idea is formed, parts must be acquired and the physical deliverable must be designed. When the first prototype is built, testing and modifying will be the final steps before the product is finished. This large scale project will instill engagement, communication, innovation, and design among many other learning outcomes. In the end, not only will a physical deliverable be completed, but practical experience in engineering devices will be gained.

Overview

The goal of the design is to assist the elderly through automatic drug delivery. As the process of aging occurs, many patients begin to take more drugs more frequently and subsequently forget to take their medication. Through brainstorming, researching similar products, interviewing those who may use the device, and drafting ideas, a viable design was proposed. The design consists of a compact device that can fit in a band wrapped around the patient’s upper arm and deliver a set dosage of a drug to the patient automatically. In order to regulate the device, the patient’s doctor will use a computer interface to prescribe a certain volume of the drug to be administered over a set time period. This information will be sent to a data acquisition collector which will command motors to pump a syringe full of medication into the veins of the patient. The success of this project will prove the concept of automatic drug delivery; further engineering could yield a device that would allow patients taking several different drugs the convenience of automatic drug delivery.