Sensing with Sensors

We all forget things form time to time, did you switch off the oven, iron or dryer, sometimes this can be serious and sometime not, but wouldn't it be great if we could find out from our phone or be reminded by our smart speaker. So what about remembering to take our medication or checking that our loved ones have taken theirs.

I know lets stick a vibration sensor onto the medication box, if the medication box has been moved then that might give us an indication that there has been activity in terms of taking you medication. Combine this with a reminder in your Google calendar to take your pills, we can start to do something clever.

We could send reminders to Alexa (smart speaker) or your phone, if the medication box hasn't been moved, as well as notify our support group, after a number of unsuccessful reminders.

Something like this could be setup for around £120 or less depending on what equipment is already available and the complexity of the solution. If it is more complex we would probably also require a small subscription of around £4's per month.

Outline of Costs

Internet and Wifi assumed.

If required, a smart phone, is not included in cost.

Aqara Vibration Sensor ~£20

Alexa Smart Speaker

Alexa Account - Free

Google Calendar - Free

Aqara Hub ~£30

Alternative for more complex solution Raspberry Pi 4/SSD/Power Supply/Case/Home Assistant Software/Zigbee Controller/USB Cable ~£90

Nabu Casa subscription ~£4 per month

Obviously these cost vary depending on needs but that's the sort of thing we can discuss.