PillBot: Helping One Grandmother, Then Thousands. Gabriel Anthony’s Innovative Journey of Real-World Impact.

Gabriel Anthony didn’t set out to invent a robot. He just wanted to help someone he loved. At only 12 years old, he watched his grandmother struggle with something most people take for granted taking the right medication. Her vision had deteriorated to the point where she needed a magnifying glass and torch just to read pill labels. Even then, mistakes happened. Gabriel recalls moments when she would squint under the light, holding a tiny pill in shaking hands, unsure if it was the right one.

“My grandma has poor eyesight, and she takes a lot of pills because of her conditions. Sometimes she takes the wrong one because she can't see or recognize it,”

In an interview aired last April on Wellington’s popular morning radio station The Breeze. It wasn’t just frustrating. It was frightening. Each mistake carried the risk of serious health consequences. For Gabriel, watching this happen again and again sparked something deeper than concern. It sparked action. For Gabriel’s grandmother, it wasn’t a one-time issue. It was a daily risk. And for Gabriel, that wasn’t acceptable.

His motivation was simple: protect someone he loved. And from that place of love and determination, PillBot was born. Not in a lab, but in a home, with heart.

PillBot is a compact, AI-powered device that uses a built-in camera and machine learning to identify pills and read their names aloud to visually impaired users. The tool is simple, smart, and most importantly, potentially life changing.

But what transformed Gabriel’s kitchen-table prototype into a nationally recognized public health innovation was his participation in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow (SFT) program.

A Platform That Converts Purpose Into Progress

Now in its 15th year globally, Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow is more than just a student competition. It’s a launchpad for socially driven tech innovation. The program empowers students to apply STEM skills to real-world problems, providing the mentorship, structure and support they need to turn ideas into impactful solutions.

For Gabriel Anthony, that support made all the difference. His project, PillBot, won first place in New Zealand’s 2024 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition in Years 7–10 category, but the journey didn’t end there. With guidance from mentors and access to new technology, Gabriel continued refining his idea, gaining valuable insights from pharmacists and healthcare professionals who saw the device’s potential to support elder care.

“I refined PillBot through experimentation and testing,” said Gabriel in an interview with Stuff. “I want to thank all the doctors and pharmacists who helped me test and understand the pills. Without them, PillBot wouldn’t work.”

Today, PillBot helps Gabriel’s grandmother safely identify her medications and its potential continues to grow. With an estimated 150,000 New Zealanders living with visual impairments, the device could become a vital tool for safer, more independent healthcare

“PillBot takes a photo of the pill and uses AI to recognize it,” Gabriel explained. “Then it reads the name out loud and sends a message to the user’s phone, so they know it’s correct.”

More Than an Idea: Empowering Youth to Solve What Matters

“I just wanted to help my grandma,” said Gabriel. “Samsung Solve for Tomorrow made me believe I actually could.”

As communities around the world face increasingly complex challenges in healthcare, education, and sustainability, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow proves that youth innovation isn’t just academic. It’s timely, practical, and scalable. Gabriel’s story is a reminder that the next big idea doesn’t have to come from a lab. It can start at home, with someone who cares.

For Samsung, Solve for Tomorrow represents both a commitment to corporate social responsibility and a long-term investment in future innovators equipping young minds with the tools, confidence, and mindset to lead positive changes in their communities and beyond.