Medication non-adherence and incorrect intake are major challenges in home and outpatient care, particularly for patients with multiple daily doses. This study outlines the design and assessment of an IoT Smart Pill Box that integrates time reminders with compartment guidance to minimize medication selection mistakes.
The system uses an ESP32 microcontroller with a touchscreen, real-time clock, audible alert, and LED indicators for each medication compartment. The device allows for four reminders daily across a week. We conducted experimental evaluation with a prototype across three weekly test cycles, resulting in 84 reminder events. System performance was evaluated through logs and observations, emphasizing alert delivery accuracy, timing deviations, LED location accuracy, user response time, and incorrect compartment attempts. The results show consistent performance, with all alerts triggered successfully and within a ±5 s timing threshold. The LED mechanism reached full compartment location accuracy, with no instances of wrong-compartment access. User interaction was quick, averaging a response time of 1.6 seconds. These findings show that spatially guided reminders effectively enhance smart medication management and could significantly improve medication safety in real-world use.