A Low-Cost Smart Medication Box with Infrared Compartment Sensing and Audio-Coded Missed-Dose Alerts

Medication adherence can be difficult for individuals who follow regular medication schedules, and a reminder alone does not indicate whether the corresponding medication compartment has been accessed. This paper presents the design and implementation of a smart medication box that provides scheduled reminders and detects compartment-opening events to help users monitor dose status. The prototype is built around an Arduino Uno R3 and uses a DS3231 real-time clock (RTC) module, seven infrared (IR) sensor modules, a 1.3-inch I2C OLED display, and an active buzzer. Each IR sensor is assigned to a day of the week, and the RTC supplies the current time and day for scheduling. The system issues a short beep two minutes before the scheduled dose and a further short beep at the scheduled time. If the compartment assigned to the current day is not detected as opened within a two-minute grace period, the system produces three short beeps and marks the dose as missed, so that a missed dose can be distinguished from a reminder by sound alone. The OLED display shows the current day, the time, and the dose status. The assembled prototype, built on a soldered printed circuit board, demonstrates the integration of real-time scheduling, infrared sensing, visual status indication, and differentiated audio alerts using low-cost, readily available components and without any network connectivity.