It's TIME to focus with the ADHD watch
ITS AS EASY AS . . .
01
PATCH
The watch uses a trans-dermal patch, with microneedles, to deliver the medication directly to the user. The painless patch can be applied anywhere on the wrist, reducing the chance of irritation and making it comfortable to wear.
02
WATCH
The watch uses a small electric current to control the flow rate of the medication, keeping blood levels at therapeutic levels when you need them. The watch can also be set to stop the medication before bedtimes and meals. That means that the side effects of the medication are less.
03
APP
An optional app allows parents and doctors to easily adjust the watch and the on/off cycles. Different days sometimes mean a different schedule, and the app lets you control the watch so you have medication when you need it!
MEET OUR
ADHD WATCH
TEAM
OUR STORY
We're 6th Grade students from North Carolina. We entered the competition as a part of our science class. Our teacher assigned us to work together and we came up with the idea of a watch to help students with ADHD. We know that a lot of kids have ADHD and that the medicines that we use for it cause side effects. We saw a chance to solve a problem that so many kids face.
OUR VISION
In a perfect world, no one would need ADHD medication. Unfortunately, a lot of kids need the medicine to help them focus during school and after school activities. Without the medication, school isn't just hard, its impossible. Our vision is for students to be able to get all of the benefits of the ADHD medication with fewer side effects. We want to keep the medication in our body when we need it and out of our body when we don't.
TECHNOLOGY
It doesn't have to be complicated to be wonderful! Our medication is delivered through a trans-dermal patch. The unique feature is that a small current provided by the watch pushes the medication through tiny microneedles in the patch. This means that dosing can be adjusted and therapeutic levels can be maintained. By turning the current on and off, we can control when the medication is put in to the body. This means that meals and bedtime can be enjoyable again!
DESIGN PROCESS
ADHD is very common. Medication is one way to control the symptoms. Pills can wear off and we know that if you don’t take medication in the afternoon, it is very hard to focus on homework or on afterschool activities. But if you don't take an afternoon dose then you are hungry for dinner and can sleep well. If you do take it to help in the afternoon, then you have trouble falling asleep and don’t want to eat dinner. Being overtired makes the symptoms of ADHD worse, so it is a bad loop that you get stuck in. We also know that the medicine from the morning wears off and it makes it hard to focus on some classes in the afternoon.
We knew we wanted to fix something for ADHD. At first, we wanted to make a medication that would work all day and then turn off at night. Then we thought about a microchip that would just fix our ADHD all together, but neither one of us wanted brain surgery. So we got to thinking about how we could control how the medicine is given. At first, we thought if we didn’t swallow it, then we would still be hungry. Unfortunately, when we looked and found out about the Daytrana patch and that it affects your appetite too. So then we thought about how you could get a steady level of medicine in your system and turn it off so that it wasn’t in your system at mealtimes and when you wanted to sleep. That is how we came up with the idea of a timer that could control a medicine pump or a patch.