Team: Psychedelic Psychologists · Event: RoboTech 2023 @ Georgia Tech — Software Track Winner
Capsule Companion is a weekend-scale systems build: a holographic front-end, a conversational “therapist” bot, and a physical pill dispenser tied together into one demo you can walk up to and use. The goal was simple to state and hard to ship—make medication reminders feel less clinical, and make the interface feel like a product rather than a slide.
What we built
We combined a therapist-style chat agent with a pill dispenser, surfaced through a hologram-style display so the interaction feels spatial and memorable. The bot is meant to feel supportive (not gimmicky), while the dispenser grounds the experience in something tangible: real hardware, real timing, real stakes if you forget a dose.
Inspiration
We let the idea phase be intentionally chaotic: lots of ChatGPT brainstorming, rapid pruning, then a hard pivot into something we could actually fabricate, wire, and debug before judging. The final concept kept the emotional core (“make care feel human”) while shrinking scope to what we could credibly demo.
How we made it
Body & fabrication
Woodworking was the fastest path to a polished physical object. It also gave the booth presence—people could recognize it as a “device” instantly. We learned sticker production for team branding along the way.
Electronics
For several teammates, this was a first serious Arduino project. Servos, power, and serial plumbing were the curriculum—lots of debugging, lots of wins when the mechanism finally moved reliably.
Code
The software write-up lives alongside the repo:
Features
- Personalized sessions: NLP + ML-backed responses tailored to user input (demo-scoped, but real integration work).
- Pill dispenser: programmable schedules, with an emphasis on users who need structure and reminders.
- Voice loop: Whisper for speech-to-text and Google Cloud Text-to-Speech for responses.
- Privacy posture: encryption and secure storage called out as design requirements for anything health-adjacent.
Using the demo
- Talk to the bot— it prompts, listens, and responds in-session.
- Program the dispenser for timed releases (the “boring” part that makes the story believable).
- End cleanly with “Goodbye” or “Exit.”
Gallery
Electronics
Integrated with a laptop
Iso view
Render
