A
Synopsis
on
Improving the Concept of Medication Vending Machine
in the Light of COVID-19 and other Pandemics
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Problem Definition
3. Aim and Objective
4. Features
5. Literature Survey
6. Project architecture
7. Software Required
8. Hardware Required
9. advantages
10. Conclusion
List of Figures
Fig 1 – Proposed Architecture
List of Tables
Table 1 - IEEE Papers
Abstract – Pandemics are usually followed by a large number of infected people, enormous
number of critical patients and unavoidable fatal outcomes. If the disease is transmitted by
contact, one of the most important measures for preventing the spread of the disease is social
distancing. Ensuring social distancing is one of the most difficult tasks of the governments of
countries during the pandemic. It has been shown in practice that any measure or way to
increase social distance significantly reduces the number of victims and shortens the duration of
the pandemic. This system proposes a modification of the existing concept of a vending machine
for distributing drugs (medication vending machines – MVM), which would enable better social
distancing in the case of pandemics/epidemics, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. The
proposed modification is adapted to the healthcare system organization that exists in the
European countries and can be implemented in similar health care systems, such as in the
neighboring countries .
Keywords – Medication vending machine, COVID-19, Pandemic, Social distancing, Smart city.
Introduction
Vending machines are widely used in many domains around the world, such as a vending
machine for food, drinks, cigarettes, newspapers, etc. They started a long time ago. The first
vending machine was the coin-operated machine for holy water dispensing constructed in 17th
century by Hero of Alexandria, Greek mathematician and engineer from Alexandria [1].
The first modern coin-operated vending machines were introduced in London, England in the
early 1880s, dispensing postcards. The machine was invented by Percival Everitt in 1883 and
soon became a widespread feature at railway stations and post offices, dispensing envelopes,
postcards, and notepaper. The Sweetmeat Automatic Delivery Company was founded in 1887 in
England as the first company to deal primarily with the installation and maintenance of vending
machines. In 1893, Stollwerck, a German chocolate manufacturer, was selling its chocolate in
15,000 vending machines. It set up separate companies in various territories to manufacture
vending machines to sell not just chocolate, but cigarettes, matches, chewing gum and soap
products [2].
A very interesting real-life story in COVID-19 times comes from Vancouver [6]. The opioid
epidemic, which caused the declaration of public health emergency in Vancouver four years ago,
is made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a crisis on top of a crisis. The usual harm-
reduction approach, a designated location where drugs can be taken with oversight by first aid-
trained staff, is problematic. Such sites constitute a public gathering place and have been closed
in order to avoid public gatherings. The illegal drug supply is getting more expensive and less
predictable. Overdose deaths still happen often. MySafe, Dispension Industries’ opioid-
dispensing ATM, debuted in Vancouver in December 2019 as part of Tyndall’s plan to replace
risky street drugs with safe, pharmaceutical-grade opioids and reduce the staggering rate of
overdoses. About a dozen patients use the machine. All report an improved quality of life and
less involvement in the dangerous street activities that used to pay for their habit.
Previously described cases show that MVM can have a very good perspective and there are a set
of reasons to use them. But it is the fact that today’s potential of MVM is not well exploited.
There are several reasons. Some of them will be discussed in the next chapter. It is quite clear
that for the expansion of MVM use some concepts of MVM should be changed and adapted to a
concrete scenario of use. One modification we proposed in this paper inspired by the actual
COVID-19 pandemic and effort of all countries to reduce virus SARS-CoV-2 [7] expansion by
providing better social distancing as one of the most efficient activities in the suppression of the
spread of an epidemic.
Problem Definition
To develop an IoT based smart vending machine that dispense facemask, Sanitizer bottles, PPE
Kit to maintain social distancing during the Covid-19 Pandemics using Internet of Things.
Purpose
The Proposed system to maintain social distancing and avoid spread of covid-19 with smart
vending machine that dispense medications (Medicine, Mask, PPE suits etc.). also monitor these
vending machines from remote location.
Aim and Objectives
The aims and Objectives of the given system are as follows:
To dispense face mask / Sanitizer bottles/ PPE Kit by entering amount.
To detect available stock of products and send it on cloud.
To monitor and control system from remote location.
Features
Sensing Parameters- product availability, Collected amount
Store data on Amazon AWS or Google Cloud.
Visualization and monitoring on Web and Android App.
Fully Wireless
Protocol Used: MQTT
Economically feasible system.
Realtime notification to user.
Literature Survey
IEEE Papers
No. Paper / Publication Author Year
1. Improving the Concept of Medication Dragan S. Jankovic;Aleksandar M. 2020
Vending Machine in the Light of COVID- Milenkovic;Andjelija I. Djordjevic
19 and other Pandemics
2. Three-dimensional adjustable cavity for C. K. Toh;S. L. J. Ng;Y. O. Tan 2012
flexible singulation of multiple
medications in an automated medication
dispenser
3. New Generation Artificial Intelligent Chih-Chun Hsu;Yi-Chang 2019
Vending Machine System based on LoRa Lin;Yeong-Long Shiue;Chi-Chia
Wan IOT Network Sun
4. Universal IoT Vending Machine Srdjan Tegeltija;Branislav 2020
Management Platform Tejić;Ivana Šenk;Laslo
Tarjan;Gordana Ostojić
5. Experimental Evaluation of IoT Ratna Mayasari;Renaldi Permana 2020
Connectivity using LoRa WAN for Putra;Aditya Kurniawan;Farhan
Vending Machine Network Fathir Lanang;Ibnu
6. RFID technology: Beyond cash-based Aneeqa Ramzan;Saad 2017
methods in vending machine Rehman;Aqib Perwaiz
Methodology
Fig 1 – Proposed Architecture
Software Required
• Programming language – MicroPython / C (Arduino)
• Tool – PyCharm, Arduino IDE
• Protocol - MQTT
• Cloud – Amazon AWS / Google Firebase
• Web – HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Bootstrap
Hardware Required
• Controller – ESP32
• Sensor – Coin Acceptor, IR Proximity
• Power Supply (12v DC / Lion Battery)
• Other – 16x2 LCD, Motors, String
Area of Project
IOT, M2M
Advantages
There is no violation of social distancing.
Customer can use any combination of currency to get product.
Provides a user-friendly interface hence will have a greater acceptance by the user like
illiterate person.
The system is more compact compared to the existing ones.
Conclusion
It is important to consider how this technology may affect quality of medication delivery and use
in the convid-19 pandemic to avoid the spread of novel corona virus. With quality as a major
focus of the new wave of health care, how will medication vending machines fare? If such
mechanisms are inevitable, how will pharmacists complement this service? Will virtual
pharmacist patient consultations be the new norm? Will such technology improve or worsen the
existing patient-pharmacist relationship? How will the technology affect older adults who may
be at increased risk for adverse effects from medications? Many such questions remain
unanswered. Nonetheless, as pharmacists looking to our future, we must consider quality
services that hold value to our patients and other health professionals. As technology is sure to
evolve, pharmacists must look toward quality improvement in patient care services and provide
due expertise in medication management, so such technology becomes integrated as a
fundamental way of pharmacy practice, regardless of setting. In this changing culture of health
care and technology, now is an opportune time for pharmacists to drive the expectations of
patients and other health professionals about the value of pharmacist services within the patient
care continuum.
References
[1] [Link]
[2] [Link]
Machine-Market-2020-2024---Roadmap-for-Recovery-Growing-Demand-for-Cashless-Vending-
Machines-to-boost-the-Market-Growth-Technavio
[3] New Generation Artificial Intelligent Vending Machine System based on LoRaWan IOT Network
Chih-Chun Hsu;Yi-Chang Lin;Yeong-Long Shiue;Chi-Chia Sun 2019 IEEE International
Conference on Consumer Electronics - Taiwan (ICCE-TW) Year: 2019 | Conference Paper |
Publisher: IEEE
[4] IOT Based Smart Vending Machine for Bangladesh Wahidul Alam;Fahima Sultana;Jubaida
Bahar Saba;Ayikutu Courage Kofi 2019 IEEE International Conference on Robotics,
Automation, Artificial-intelligence and Internet-of-Things (RAAICON) Year: 2019 | Conference
Paper | Publisher: IEEE.
[5] Universal IoT Vending Machine Management Platform Srdjan Tegeltija;Branislav Tejić;Ivana
Šenk;Laslo Tarjan;Gordana Ostojić 2020 19th International Symposium INFOTEH-JAHORINA
(INFOTEH) Year: 2020 | Conference Paper | Publisher: IEEE
[6] The Optical Subsystem for the Empty Containers Recognition and Sorting in a Reverse Vending
Machine Andrey N. Kokoulin;Dmitriy A. Kiryanov 2019 4th International Conference on Smart
and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech) Year: 2019 | Conference Paper | Publisher: IEEE
