Introduction: Alexa-aid

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About: Love to make electronics projects and to innovate new things.

(The video above is for a layman as it was a school project)

10 Fingers,

10 Toes,

2 Eyes,

1 Nose...

Safety

Counts

Alexa-aid is an Alexa based first-aid system in which Alexa acts as a doctor and provides the first-aid required to the patient. In this project the first-aid provided is limited to one type of pill and a band-aid, but you can add as many as you want by doing little editing in the 3D model and code given.

Alexa-aid proves to be very helpful under certain circumstances , for instance in case there is a kid & his parents are not at home & he does not feel well, or he hurts himself, then he can either talk to Alexa to give the appropriate medicine or band-aid or his parents can remotely dispense the medicine by their smartphone from there only!

Also for old members of the house, who forget to take medicine on time, they can ask Alexa to set a reminder and then Alexa will automatically dispense the pill and will remind them to have it (by creating a routine in the Alexa app).

This project is workaround a skill named Sinric , developed by kakopappa (as I am still learning to create a skill) so its working is not straight forward, you have to create specific voice routines in the alexa app to make it work. Nevertheless it works like a charm.

Step 1: Materials Required

  1. 3D printer
  2. nodeMCU
  3. 2x L293d motor driver ic
  4. 2x 4 wire bipolar stepper motor
  5. LED (optional)
  6. breadboard or pcb
  7. 8x tiny screws

Step 2: Creating Sinric Account

  1. Visit www.sinric.com
  2. Create an account by clicking " Register ".
  3. Click on " Add " under " Smart Home Device tab ".
  4. Give the friendly name as pill dispenser or whatever you want .
  5. Set the device type to " switch ".
  6. Similarly add device for band-aid dispenser.
  7. Copy API key and device id of both the devices.

Step 3: Installing Libraries

In order to get this code working, you'll need to download some additional libraries using the following links:-

  1. WebSocketsClient : https://github.com/Links2004/arduinoWebSockets/re...
  2. WiFiManager : https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager
  3. ArduinoJson : https://arduinojson.org/ (download version 5 not 6)

Step 4: Uploading Code to Nodemcu

To upload the code on nodeMCU, you'll first need to add it in boards manager. For that, open Arduino IDE and on the top menu bar click File - Preferences and you'll see a field that says Additional Boards Manager URLS:. Copy and paste this into that field:

http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266c... and Click OK On the top menu bar click Tools - Board: - Boards Manager and scroll down to verify that the ESP8266 by ESP8266 Community is INSTALLED. If so, click close and once again go to Tools - Board: - Boards Manager, and you'll now see a bunch of ESP8266 type boards that you can program using the Arduino IDE.

Connect your nodeMCU using USB cable to your computer.
Download the attached sketch ".ino" file, then double click it and it should load into the Arduino IDE. In the IDE click Tools - Boards and choose nodeMCU Module. Again click Tools - Port and choose the COM port of nodeMCU you just plugged into your computer. (Note you can unplug and re-plug the adapter to figure out which COM port it is) Once again click Tools - Upload Speed and choose either 115200 or 9600. You have to change a few things in the sketch code, the "API key", and the "device id" of your pill and band-aid dispenser.

Attachments

Step 5: The Circuit

Connect the circuit as per the connections shown. Use of an LED optional as it is just to indicate that the pill has dispensed.

Step 6: Printing 3D Model

Print the 3D parts provided as per your settings in the slicer software.

Attachments

Step 7: Setting Up Altogether

Attach components as shown in the picture

  1. First attach motor to left and right panels.
  2. Then attach wheel to left motor shaft and drum to the right (use super glue if needed).
  3. Close the box using tiny screws.
  4. Attach LED in the tiny gap between the wheel enclosure and the back of the box.

Step 8: Configuring Device in the Alexa App

  1. First connect the device to your WiFi network by opening WiFi setting on your mobile device and connecting to the ssid named " alexa-aid ".
  2. Now open the Alexa app and search for the skill " Sinric " and enable it by linking your account.
  3. Then ask Alexa to discover devices, after discovery, you should find two devices named "pill dispenser" and "band-aid dispenser".
  4. After that you'll require to create a routine as depicted in the picture above.

Step 9: How to Use

  1. For pill dispenser, drop the pills inside the slots of the wheel.
  2. For band-aid dispenser, roll the band-aid over the roller and take out one end from the slot located at the front face of the box.

Well, that's it, by now you should be willing to get hurt and ask Dr. Alexa for the aid ;P

Just kidding, but remember its better to be safe than sorry.....

If you liked my little project don't forget to VOTE it as it is the part of IOT contest.

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