Show HN: Nudge – A $49 device that knows if you took your meds

Five years ago my 5-year-old son had a grand mal seizure at home. We lost minutes thinking he was breathing when he wasn’t, and the ambulance ride to Boston Children’s is still the worst moment of my life. He came home on twice-daily oxcarbazepine. Coordinating that schedule between spouse, school, and sitters relying on my faulty memory felt insanely fragile. That’s why I built Nudge Device.

Nudge is a compact $49 device you place under any pill bottle or weekly organizer. At the scheduled time it pulses green lights and beeps (30 / 35 / 59 min). Lift the bottle and the built-in IR proximity sensors + accelerometer instantly confirm the dose was taken, log the exact time, and silence everything. If the bottle stays untouched after 60 minutes, it automatically sends an email and push notification to the user and any caregivers added.

No buttons. No scanning. No “open the app and tap taken.” Just reliable confirmation.

Tech: ESP32, custom algorithm IR proximity for rock-solid detection, Flutter front-end (iOS/Android), AWS IoT Core + Lambda backend. First production run of 500 units arrived last week. HSA/FSA eligible and price is going up soon.

Today my son is seizure-free, and Nudge is the reason we never miss or double-dose.

Live site and full story: https://nudgedevice.com 25% off for HN: code HACKER25 (drops it to ~$37 while we’re still small)

Curious what HN thinks. Anyone shipping consumer health hardware? What killed you early on? Parents or caregivers here, does this actually fix the multi-person chaos you live with?

Tear it apart. M Giller / solo founder