This blog will be an insight into our summer placement in a company which specialises in using automation to replace traditional manual-dispensing method, which is seen commonly behind the counter in pharmacies.
When an order comes in the system. It retrieves the necessary amount of pills from each canister and processed.
(Usually, the patient needs to take multiple medications over a month or so, and also each drug may have different dosage, so maybe pill A needs to be taken two times a day -morning and evening and pill B only need to be taken once every two days. This brings importance to controlling the dosage and quantity of each pill as impreciseness of the dosage can be dangerous to the user's safety. )
After it is retrieved from each canister, the machine will process them and sort into different pouches as it is ordered by the patient's prescription so that the patient can safely ingest the right amount of each pill without worrying taking the incorrect amount of pills
The dispensing mechanisms of the canisters were briefly explained. The canister that is holding a specific type of pill has an opening at the bottom and a rotating device. The rotor(like a gear) has multiple teeth made on the edges, which is roughly the dimension of one tablet. So when the rotor spins, one pill will slide in and drop through the hole below one by one and be taken to the next stage of processing.
However, the problem is that the mechanism is not perfect. Sometimes it will get jammed as two pills happen to be stuck in the same teeth which stops the rotor from functioning or crush the tablet which is sticking out. As it is explained before, the wrong or indefinite dosage of medication can cause harm to the user's health. Therefore each pouch needs to go through quality control before it is delivered to its patients.
They have this machine which is equipped with two cameras. Every pouch will need to be checked before it will be packed and delivered. When each bag comes under the camera, multiple pictures are taken and processed to a computer which has a database which has the information on every pill in the robot. The photos of the pouches will be verified by the data on the database(dimensions of the pill, quantities, colour, etc.). If any of the pouches contain medicines that are non-verifiable to the system, it will send an alert and will need manual checking and permission for it to be marked correct.
Another problem is that each rotor only tailors to one specific type of pill. Additionally, Each rotor has to be specially made for a particular pill. The rotor is interchangeable, so when needed, the rotor can be swapped out for another different sized pill.
However, it is costly to order these rotors and have them made as each of them can cost up to ~£80 each and new drugs are getting developed every day. It is inefficient and costly to manufacture a unique rotor for every single one of them as the ever-changing traits of the business. This will exponentially increase the cost of manufacturing.
We were asked to find a solution to this problem. The company has given us some ideas of what will help them resolve this issue.
It is ideal if there is a program where the user only needs to enter the dimension of pills they wanted to store in the container. Then the program automatically generates a CAD model of the rotor with appropriately sized teeth carved on the edge, which will fit the exact dimensions of the pill that the user typed in.
5/6
We arrived at the company. We were greeted by the company manager.we were given a tour around the office and being shown the robot that they used to store original pack medication in a managed space and to retrieve the packs at point of dispensing. Each type of pills is stored in a canister of its own.
When an order comes in the system. It retrieves the necessary amount of pills from each canister and processed.
(Usually, the patient needs to take multiple medications over a month or so, and also each drug may have different dosage, so maybe pill A needs to be taken two times a day -morning and evening and pill B only need to be taken once every two days. This brings importance to controlling the dosage and quantity of each pill as impreciseness of the dosage can be dangerous to the user's safety. )
After it is retrieved from each canister, the machine will process them and sort into different pouches as it is ordered by the patient's prescription so that the patient can safely ingest the right amount of each pill without worrying taking the incorrect amount of pills
The dispensing mechanisms of the canisters were briefly explained. The canister that is holding a specific type of pill has an opening at the bottom and a rotating device. The rotor(like a gear) has multiple teeth made on the edges, which is roughly the dimension of one tablet. So when the rotor spins, one pill will slide in and drop through the hole below one by one and be taken to the next stage of processing.
However, the problem is that the mechanism is not perfect. Sometimes it will get jammed as two pills happen to be stuck in the same teeth which stops the rotor from functioning or crush the tablet which is sticking out. As it is explained before, the wrong or indefinite dosage of medication can cause harm to the user's health. Therefore each pouch needs to go through quality control before it is delivered to its patients.
They have this machine which is equipped with two cameras. Every pouch will need to be checked before it will be packed and delivered. When each bag comes under the camera, multiple pictures are taken and processed to a computer which has a database which has the information on every pill in the robot. The photos of the pouches will be verified by the data on the database(dimensions of the pill, quantities, colour, etc.). If any of the pouches contain medicines that are non-verifiable to the system, it will send an alert and will need manual checking and permission for it to be marked correct.
Another problem is that each rotor only tailors to one specific type of pill. Additionally, Each rotor has to be specially made for a particular pill. The rotor is interchangeable, so when needed, the rotor can be swapped out for another different sized pill.
However, it is costly to order these rotors and have them made as each of them can cost up to ~£80 each and new drugs are getting developed every day. It is inefficient and costly to manufacture a unique rotor for every single one of them as the ever-changing traits of the business. This will exponentially increase the cost of manufacturing.
We were asked to find a solution to this problem. The company has given us some ideas of what will help them resolve this issue.
It is ideal if there is a program where the user only needs to enter the dimension of pills they wanted to store in the container. Then the program automatically generates a CAD model of the rotor with appropriately sized teeth carved on the edge, which will fit the exact dimensions of the pill that the user typed in.
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