Spark Core powered automatic pill dispenser
Last weekend @chojnac and I, went to PayPal's Battle Hack 2014 Warsaw. Our hack was a hardware pill dispenser using two servos and a Spark Core.
Construction
Dispenser is made out of 4 plates:
First plate (from the top)
Glued with four tubes acts as pills storage and feeder. It doesn't move and is attached to upper servo.
Second plate (AKA lock layer)
Mounted thru first plate to servo, allows selecting correct pill while third plate is moving
Third plate (AKA transport layer)
Mounted thru fourth plate to lower servo, moves selected pill to drop position. Its height is slightly more than pill's height to take only one pill. Our design has height for one M&M ;)
Fourth plate
Attached to bottom, has only one hole: in "zero" position, which is on the left of all upper holes and it's where selected pill is dropped.
How does it work
In "zero" position, all moving layers have their holes on the left where are no feeding holes.
When pill is selected their movement is following:
- Move lock layer to pill's position
- Move transport layer to pill's position
- Move transport layer to zero position
- Move lock layer to zero position
Software
Code which controlls the dispenser, uses Spark Cloud so it can be remotly tiggered via command line, web interface or dedicated iOS app.
To flash Core with code, use Build tool or Atom plugin for local development.
BOM
- Spark Core
- 2x HS-311 compatibile servos
- Breadboard cables
- Battery holder
- Buzzer
- Zip ties
- 30x M4 screws
- 30x M4 bolts