It is always a risk writing about interesting Kickstarter projects. While there are some amazing projects that get funded and go on to see the light of day, there are also many that never get over the line and which fade into oblivion. My hope is that this project, an e-health initiative out of Poland, will see the light of day.
The project, Pillbox, is the brainchild of a small startup focused on telemedicine. The team has been working on its smart pill dispenser and associated platform for the past year or so and have launched a Kickstarter campaign to get the project off the ground.
So what is this project and how does it all work together? The solution consists of a physical medicine organizer and a related technology platform.
- The PillBox is an electronic pills dispenser created to simplify delivering of medication. According to the prescribed schedule, PillBox notifies the patient and dispenses the right medicine into the container. The patient simply needs to take the pill.
- The dr Poket platform is the software side of the solution -- it allows for live communication between a patient and a doctor or caregiver. dr Poket checks interactions of a patient's medication with their everyday situations in order to assure safety, for example driving or drinking alcohol. dr Poket has different interfaces prepared: for the elderly, for the tech-savvy and high contrast versions of both for the visually impaired. It's also possible to use voice commands with the unit.
Unlike other electronic medicine dispensers, Pillbox can be connected to third parties, meaning that family members, caregivers or health professionals can check on medication compliance. The unit can also ensure that adverse effects, contraindications and medication interactions are checked for. When a patient needs to take a pill, the dispenser puts the correct pill into the correct container. At the same time patients and/or their caregivers get an application notification.
Pillbox looks like a simple, yet effective, combination of physical product and software, I'm hoping the project gets off the ground and we see the company get the funding it needs to take this project beyond the conception phase.