Scope:
MedPez is a smart pill dispenser and mobile app designed to help patients stay on track with their prescriptions.
It was developed over the course of a year as part of our senior capstone project at Santa Clara University.
We presented MedPez at the 2025 SCU Senior Design Conference as part of the Healthcare and Accessibility track.
Contribution:
Project Lead
Industrial Design
Embedded Mechanical and Electrical Systems
User Research
C++ Programming
UI/UX Design
Color, Material, and Finish
Branding
The Challenge:
Many people — especially older adults and those managing multiple prescriptions — struggle with medication adherence. Existing solutions are often too complex, too expensive, or simply not intuitive enough.
Our team set out to design a simple, affordable, and user-friendly device that could support healthy routines through gentle reminders, smart tracking, and accessible design.
The Solution:
MedPez consists of two modular components joined by a magnetic connector:
The Housing: Contains the touchscreen, microcontroller, battery, and storage funnel.
The Cartridge: Contains the pill dispensing mechanism, rotary encoder & IR sensor to verify dispense events, and power management system. Swappable to accommodate different pill sizes and prescriptions.
You simply enter your prescription, pour in your pills, and MedPez will remind you when it’s time to take your medication. Once a pill has been successfully dispensed or you manually skip the dose, the alarm is silenced. Data is logged and synced to the app for easy tracking and accountability.
Demo
UI Design
Branding
User Research
Design Process:
Fall: Research & Ideation
We began by mapping the landscape of existing adherence solutions and interviewing target users, including patients, caregivers, and pharmacists. This research helped us prioritize simplicity, clarity, and flexibility in our solution.
Winter: Prototyping & Testing
We built and tested five iterations of the physical device, experimenting with dispensing mechanisms, sensor configurations, and cartridge shapes. In parallel, we developed the MedPez mobile app, enabling users to view schedules and receive notifications.
Spring: Integration & Refinement
With the basic systems in place, we spent our final term refining the prototype. We successfully connected the dispenser and app via BLE, added feedback and error states, and ensured the system could handle real-world schedules and user input.
