Academia Track

Introduction to Project Concept of

Any Time Medicine Vending Machine Degrees o f soc ia l s ta tus a re c l ose ly l i nked to hea l th i nequa l i t i es . Those w i th poo r hea l th t end to f a l l i n to pove r t y and the poo r t end to have

poo r hea l th . Acco rd ing to t he Wor ld Hea l th Organ iza t i on , w i th i n count r i es those o f l ower soc ioeconomic s t ra ta have the wors t hea l th ou tcomes .

Hea l th a l so appears t o have a s t rong soc ia l componen t l i nk ing i t t o educa t ion and access to i n fo rma t i on . In t e rms o f hea l th , pove r ty i nc ludes

l ow i ncome, l ow educa t i on , soc ia l exc lus ion and env i ronmen ta l decay . The poo r w i th i n most coun t r i es a re t rapped i n a cyc le i n wh i ch pove r ty

breeds i l l hea l th and i l l hea l th b reeds pove r t y .

Any T ime Medic ine Vend ing Mach ine i s a l though no t a new concep t in i t s en t i re t y , i t cou ld p rove to be use fu l and hence impor tan t in deve lop ing

coun t r i es l i ke Ind ia where hea l thca re i s u tmos t c r i t i ca l .

Audience

Academia , Deve lopers & Sponsors

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Background

§ Academia approach towards projects…

Short-term

Theory oriented

Lacks application approach

Real-life utility is often ignored

§ What happened at idea-presentation competition ?

Own / others’ ideas were presented

Only theory…No PoC !

§ Why is this being presented here ?

As a learning experience for academic community

New idea and application of theoretical concepts

For community support in development

Sponsorship, if any

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iGuide Concept

§ Why was that initiated

To support development of an idea / project that is technically feasible and also applicable to real world.

Converting abstract ideas into meaningful block diagrams and working applications.

§ What does it cover

Technical support in terms of resources, designs.

Development modules for experiments.

Hands-on support for industrial modules.

Supply of open-source hardware as well as software.

§ What it doesn’t cover

Blatant outsourcing.

Full financial assistance.

Labor support.

Proprietory knowledge and information.

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Why ATMVM ?

§ What are the common problems ?

Too many people in India die due to lack of diagnosis in first place, availability of medicine in time or in affordable cost as

second.

Problem aggravates when need of some medicine is urgent and drug-stores are not open or drug is not available in stock.

Esp. during night times.

In remote areas, rural areas and places where public turnover is less, this is critical issue to have medicine availability

within the patient’s reach.

§ How ATMVM can address those ?

The idea is that people would be able to access the drugs via patient kiosks in public places such as drug stores, malls,

bus / railway stations, areas where medical stores are limited, on highways, etc.

Drugs (esp. OTC types) can be made available in affordable rates.

Regular replenishment can help in not only tracking usage pattern and thus taking precautionary measures but also

ensure availability of drugs 24x7, and hence the name Any Time Medicine…

First aid can be available easily due to availability of ATMVMs in public places.

© 2013 - Knewron | Any Time Medicine Vending Machine – Project Concept 5 www.knewron.co. in

Block Diagram

GSM Link

Display &

Keypad

Mini-Printer Medicine

Dispenser

Camera, Mic. &

Speaker

Credit Card

Reader

Cash Inlet

Inventory

Controller Data Card

# P r i m a r y b l o c k d i a g r a m

CPU

© 2013 - Knewron | Any Time Medicine Vending Machine – Project Concept 6 www.knewron.co. in

Functioning

§ Any person, intending to utilize the ATMVM will go through

following steps…

Input his personal identification ID (such as PAN No., Aadhar No.,

Passport No. or similar)

Select the medicine needed.

ATMVM will search through inventory & database to verify

identification, create logs and check for availability, etc.

If all-well, machine will display the amount to be paid to complete

the purchase.

User will pay with cash or credit / debit card.

Machine then will dispense the medicine.

Transaction is complete.

Besides select-pay-collection mechanism, various other modules

would keep the machine in healthy condition and would make sure

that nothing is going wrong…

1. Select

2. Pay

3. Collect

© 2013 - Knewron | Any Time Medicine Vending Machine – Project Concept 7 www.knewron.co. in

Type of Drugs

§ What kind of drugs will this machine vend ?

OTC drugs

Certain prescription drugs

Consumables

First-aid products

© 2013 - Knewron | Any Time Medicine Vending Machine – Project Concept 8 www.knewron.co. in

Critical Modules

§ Camera & microphone input

Camera module is critical to identification process in case of previous offenders / black-listings, etc.

In case of an illiterate or disabled users, keypad and display may not be of full use. Using microphone to analyze oral

commands would be important.

However, illiteracy of users can be overcome by use of properly designed GUI though.

§ Cash collector and credit / debit card reader

Correctly accepting coins, currency notes, credit cards and debit cards would be vital.

Rejection of incorrect & short-value transactions, fake coins / notes, etc. is important.

§ Inventory controller

Controlling the inventory of drugs is critical to functioning of machine. Not only from low inventory levels but also from

misuse or theft cases.

GSM link would enable inventory controller to keep tab on inventory at regular intervals and report it to the control

rooms. That way, replenishment is easy and the tracking too.

© 2013 - Knewron | Any Time Medicine Vending Machine – Project Concept 9 www.knewron.co. in

Current Status

§ Done so far…

Since last couple of months, the idea has been converted from abstract concept to block diagram level.

Similar available machines are being studied.

§ Planned next…

Prospective customer survey / study has been planned in order to understand Indian users for such a machine.

Block diagram would be detailed out for each block and module development would be started.

Legal, medical and administrative aspects would be studied for feasibility study and further changes in design.

§ What are hurdles ?

Funds

Timely resource availability & formation of think-tank team

© 2013 - Knewron | Any Time Medicine Vending Machine – Project Concept 10 www.knewron.co. in

Next Steps

§ Making it open-source-development project for various modules

The project will soon be launched as a open-source project in order to involve more engineering and science academia.

Open-source-development would also enable the project progress swiftly and finish within time.

§ Backers / sponsors & co-developers invited

Do let us know, if you…

o Wish to be part of open-source-development team (as an academy or an individual)

o Can contribute financially

o Can support for other tasks such as legal & administrative support, customer study, etc.

o Have any suggestions or ideas to contribute to this work

Introduction to Project Concept of

Any Time Medicine Vending Machine © 2013 – Knewron

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design, process re-engineering, analytics, research, product prototype, design & development, corporate trainings and end-to-end customized solutions in various

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