High college pupil Archishma Marrapu has made important strides within the subject of biomedical engineering. Her need to make use of her technical abilities to assist others led her to develop low-cost improvements together with an automatic pill-tracking machine that reminds sufferers to take their drugs. Her Project Pill Tracker has caught the eye of main pharmaceutical firms together with CVS, a big U.S. pharmacy chain.
Marrapu, a pupil on the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, in Alexandria, Va., got here up with the concept final summer time after seeing her grandfather battle to recollect to take life-saving drugs at particular occasions every day. She got down to create a tool that might assist him and thousands and thousands of different individuals handle their drugs successfully. Her 3D-printed prescription bottles are outfitted with ultrasonic sensors, which hold monitor of the capsules disbursed. The accompanying cellular app is programmed with a number of options together with AI sample evaluation to detect skipped doses and misuse, in addition to ChatGPT to supply info to customers, reminiscent of methods to mitigate unwanted effects.
By switching to Marrapu’s tracker from conventional prescription bottles, pharmacies might enhance remedy adherence, stopping intensified medical circumstances and lowering the variety of deaths—at present about 125,000 yearly—resulting from forgetting to take a prescribed drug or misusing it, in keeping with the World Health Organization.
Marrapu offered a poster on her invention at this yr’s IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, in Laurel, Md. She obtained the IEEE Technical Excellence Award.
“I want to be a changemaker in society and make a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” she says. “I firmly believe that by combining the power of health care and technology, we can address some of the most pressing challenges faced by individuals and communities worldwide.”
Disrupting the high-priced biomedical machine market
Before creating her automated pill-tracking software, Marrapu performed market analysis. She discovered that comparable gadgets have been costly, some charging a excessive month-to-month subscription plan of just about US $100—which places them out of attain for many individuals.
“I set out to create something everyone could use regardless of socioeconomic background,” she says. “Health care has so many challenges that can be solved using simple, inexpensive technology. Why can’t we make biomedical devices that are both affordable and functional?”
Similar instruments additionally don’t account for human errors reminiscent of forgetting to take a capsule on time or ingesting too many.
After a number of iterations, Marrapu landed on a design much like the prescription bottle pharmacies use right this moment, solely built-in with AI and different elements that she constructed and programmed herself.
That contains LEDs that gentle up when it’s time to take a capsule, as nicely a buzzer.
Her prescription bottles could be bought on to pharmacies, she determined.
Marrapu developed an app to accompany the machine. It permits the person to scan the bar code on the prescription bottle, which then autofills utilization details about the prescription, together with what number of capsules are to be taken and the way typically. When it’s time to take the remedy, not solely will the bottle gentle up and buzz; customers are also notified on their telephone.
“Everyone has a place in STEM, and the best way to lead is by example.”
By incorporating these 3 ways for the affected person to be reminded, the machine can alert those that are hearing-impaired or visually impaired as nicely.
To take the remedy, the person pushes a button on the bottle lid; the prescribed capsules are disbursed from a gap on the backside. The lid is for design functions solely, to duplicate the feel and appear of bizarre prescription bottles.
The variety of capsules taken and the time of dosage is then recorded on the app. If the remedy is just not disbursed on the scheduled time after repeat reminders, the app robotically notifies the designated medical skilled or caretaker.
The app additionally lists sure meals the affected person ought to keep away from, relying on the remedy. Grapefruit, kale, cured meats, and different meals can have an effect on the best way some medicines work within the physique.
Another app characteristic lets customers give the explanation why they’ve stopped taking a specific remedy, reminiscent of unwanted effects or monetary points. The app can present suggestions reminiscent of methods to treatment the unwanted effects, or it might counsel a generic different. It additionally notifies the medical skilled or caretaker.
The pill-tracking machine has a pattern-analysis algorithm that goals to assist stop prescription drug misuse. The algorithm tracks what number of capsules have been disbursed “on demand” by the person. It may be accomplished when, for instance, the affected person drops a capsule on the ground and must dispense one other to interchange it. The sample evaluation identifies when somebody is taking extra remedy than the physician prescribed and notifies the physician or a caretaker.
Getting in Front of the Customer
Marrapu first pitched her machine to CVS executives in February. She additionally visited pharmacies in her space to interview pharmacists and prospects.
“This helped the evolution of my product,” Marrapu says. “There was feedback, for example, from those with arthritis, or elderly people who had a difficult time pressing the button. Meeting with pharmacists, I got the idea to incorporate touch ID and voice recognition in the next iteration to make it simpler to dispense medication.”
Executives at CVS’ Digital Innovation Lab mentioned they have been impressed by Marrapu’s machine. Together they’re partnering on subsequent steps to make sure the subsequent model is extra handy and inclusive.
Some of Marrapu’s longer-term plans are to launch a startup to convey the product to market and to develop extra inexpensive biomedical gadgets.
It’s by no means too early to start out a STEM profession
Marrapu grew up in a household and group the place lots of the adults labored in technical fields. Her dad and mom each have jobs in info expertise.
She started competing in science, expertise, engineering, and math competitions at age 4. She participated within the First Lego League, a global robotics competitors for kids in grades 1 by means of 8. She went on to enter American Computer Science League competitions for college students in grades 1 by means of 12.
Marrapu participated in ACSL nationwide competitions, profitable a lot of them. She realized to code within the fourth and fifth grades, she says, changing into Java- and Python-certified.
It was throughout a visit to India visiting household whereas within the seventh grade that she discovered her ardour for biomedical engineering. At a charitable belief run by a household good friend, Marrapu witnessed sufferers who have been receiving prosthetic limbs without charge. The good friend confirmed her the unreal limbs, and Marrapu observed they didn’t have performance.
When Marrapu returned to high school that yr, she constructed her first biomedical machine: an AI-powered prosthetic hand. Made from cheap electronics and 3D-printed components, it supplied the person a variety of movement and gripping capabilities. She then donated some to the belief.
She launched a nonprofit, STEMifyGirls, that very same yr to empower younger girls to enter STEM fields. The group gives hands-on actions, competitions, and assets to assist college students change into fascinated about STEM fields and purchase new abilities.
“I’ve always had a lot of support from my family and community to pursue whatever interests me, but I know that not everyone has the same resources that I had,” she says. “I wanted to provide young girls with the same opportunities.”
Through partnerships with organizations together with the Maryland STEM Festival, the Washington Academy of Sciences, and the Cyber & Steam Global Innovation Alliance, STEMify has reached some 4 million college students, she says.
Hands-on studying prepares college students for the true world extra successfully than textbooks or classroom studying, Marrapu says, and he or she needs to supply that have to as many women and younger girls as she will be able to.
“Everyone has a place in STEM,” Marrapu says. “And the best way to lead is by example.”
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