Smart Medication Organizer; Longevity Biotechnology, Socioeconomic Practices, and a Changing Concept of Aging in the United States

The technical report describes the development of the Smart Medication Organizer (SMO) by a team of computer engineers. The purpose of the device is to reduce nonadherence to pharmaceutical medication regimens by patients to improve their long-term health and reduce medical spending. Keeping track of a complicated treatment regimen can be difficult and time consuming, so the SMO removes some responsibility from the patient by actively managing their medications to help them self-administer at consistent and correct schedules. To accomplish its goal, the SMO provides timed auditory and visual indications to signal the user to take their medications. The device encompasses a screen, speaker, microcontroller, and six medication compartments, each with an LED. The device connects to the user’s wireless network, where it can be programmed from a web application to set the medication times, names, compartments, and dosages. The device schedules alarms based on the user’s information. When an alarm occurs, the speaker plays a sound to draw the user’s attention, the LEDs indicate which compartment to take from, and the screen displays the medication name and dosage information. The STS research paper explores the role of longevity biotechnology and longer life expectancies in the changing of United States socioeconomic practices, including Social Security, Medicare, medical spending, and healthcare labor. The paper provides an overview of the progress and definition of longevity biotechnology and uses quantitative data to examine how society is adapting to longer lives. The data analysis is supplemented with Actor-Network Theory to demonstrate the interaction between social groups and the technology itself. Ultimately, the research paper proposes that the fundamental concept of aging is changing and emphasizes the need for society to actively adapt to mitigate the potential economic and ethical damages.

School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering
Technical Advisor: Harry Powell
STS Advisor: Tsai-Hsuan Ku
Technical Team Members: Sean Davidson, Quin Helfrick, Sai Rajuladevi