GoldLabel

Empowering elders, one label at a time

Comment

Inspiration

One of our group members’ grandmother struggles weekly to read her medication labels. She relies on her caretaker or volunteers to help, either by verbally explaining or scribbling notes on the packets. Unfortunately, these often fade or are too small to read, leaving her confused again when they are not around.

This is a common scenario across many elderly households. Language barriers, small font sizes, and complex medical terms make medication labels hard to understand. Pharmacies operate in fast-paced environments, leaving little time for detailed explanations. The result is confusion, missed doses, or incorrect usage, risks that can impact health and independence.

What it does

GoldLabel is an AI-powered smart medication label solution designed to help elderly individuals better understand their prescriptions.

Caregivers or volunteers use a mobile or tablet app to photograph the existing label. The app scans, interprets, and simplifies instructions using AI-powered OCR and NLP. It converts medical jargon into clear text, adds pictograms, and translates into the elderly’s preferred language or dialect. The label is printed on the spot using a portable printer and affixed to the medication container, with formats suitable for pill packets, bottles, or sprays. Each session also includes explaining the new label to the elderly, improving understanding.

This solution improves medication adherence, reduces caregiver burden, and helps pharmacies avoid repeated consultations.

How we built it

Prototyping: We first created user interface mockups on Figma to design intuitive flows for both volunteers and elderly users. Development: We used Cogniss, a low-code platform, to build the app, integrating AI for label scanning, NLP interpretation, and pictogram generation. Printing: We explored portable Bluetooth printers to ensure compatibility with various packaging formats (stickers, tags, sleeves).

Challenges we ran into

Designing a simple and intuitive UI so volunteers and caregivers can create new labels quickly during short visits. Managing limited label space, balancing bilingual text and pictograms without clutter. Ensuring accuracy in OCR scanning and translation, especially for dialects and uncommon terms. Maintaining privacy and offline capability, since elderly homes may lack stable internet.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Identified a real, pressing healthcare gap affecting thousands of seniors in Singapore and globally. Built a functional prototype that can turn complex labels into clear, language-appropriate pictograms and text. Designed a workflow that integrates with existing volunteer networks like Lions Befrienders and Silver Generation Ambassadors, reducing barriers to adoption.

What we learned

User Interface is critical: A simple, clear UI is essential. Elderly users need big buttons and clear visuals; volunteers need speed. Small tweaks like contrast, pictograms, and step-by-step flows greatly improved usability. Technical feasibility needs harmony: The solution depends on smooth integration of OCR, NLP, translation, and Bluetooth printing. Each component must work reliably to keep the process fast and accurate.

What's next for GoldLabel

Adding more languages and smarter pictograms: We plan to expand language support, including more dialects and region-specific terms, and develop a smarter pictogram engine that can generate more accurate, culturally relevant icons automatically. Pilot testing with elderly users: Conducting real-world trials with elderly individuals and their caregivers will be our next step. This will help validate usability, improve pictogram clarity, and refine the overall experience before a broader rollout.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates