TRIO - The smart home pharmacy

TRIO is the world's first app-linked medicine cabinet. An e-ink display enables low power consumption. Based on a calendar, doctor's appointments can be booked and medication plans can be viewed.

The increasing demand for health apps and a partial overload of the health care system, especially in urban centres, pave the way for new innovations. TRIO, an app-linked medicine cabinet, uses the principle of self-help to address everyday medical needs.

Due to my strong interest in socially useful products, it quickly became clear to me that my last and largest project at the university should also deal with such a topic. In the years before, I had taken up other projects in the field of health care and developed solutions for fire brigade operations and ambulance transport, among other things. After careful consideration, I decided on a new variant of the personal medicine cabinet. This product is part of the basic equipment in almost every household and currently cannot keep up with digitalisation.

TRIO is equipped with an e-ink display, which has low power consumption and high contrast. This is important for people with impaired vision. The app can be used on the device as well as on a mobile phone or tablet. To put TRIO into operation, inductive charging coils were used to charge both the body and the 360° rotatable screen to ensure easy handling. The bodies are attached to the base plate by magnets to ensure easy suspension by a short current pulse. TRIOmed, the second smaller version of the product, has a dispensing system for pills. Based on the digital medication plan, this system uses a pre-filled cartridge, which can automatically dispense the correct pills by using small rod motors. The material of the base plate and the body is recycled plastic because it is light and can be utilised again. In addition, the base plate is covered with a waterproof cotton fabric, as this prevents loud sounds when attaching the bodies and can be easily cleaned. 

At the beginning, I researched the topic of home pharmacy, personal health care at home and technical details such as the electronic structure, big data, big data analytics, blockchain and the associated data protection. I had an exchange with a pharmacist regarding the right medical equipment and a related personally conducted survey of around 100 people who were questioned on the topic of personal healthcare at home. From this theoretical examination, various components emerged that influenced the shape and size of the product. Following this result, I worked closely with 5 different user groups to identify their everyday needs. This resulted in a basic list of components that should be used in combination with the medicine cabinet. Subsequent research into all component directions led to the final selection. These included the E-Ink display, the size of the product, the automatic tablet dispenser etc. Based on these, a 3D pre-model was first created, which was discarded after a short time in order to initiate a new form finding. The result of this was discussed with the 5 user groups and finalised by a real form test. In addition to finding the shape, the app's design was elaborated and material research was performed.

Currently, there are mainly digital offers in the area of health applications. These aim to provide assistance with personal medical care in everyday life directly via the mobile phone or tablet. What distinguishes TRIO from these applications is the fact that personal medical care requires not only digital help, but also haptic help. In a personally conducted survey, the following problems in everyday life were identified: Incorrect storage of medications, failure to check expiration dates, incorrect wound care, lack of proper equipment and Polypharmacy. By combining access to the eGK and the ePA through verification as an official DiGa product, TRIO, a medicine cabinet integrated into the living space, creates easy access to doctor's appointments, access to the personal medication schedule and much more, thus preventing chaotic medicine drawers, confusing pill boxes as well as polypharmacy and the resulting multimorbidity.