Dmopalmer suggested we use a load cell or scale to verify pills. The AWS-100 was suggested as a cheap scale to hack. The scale was easy to tear apart (5 screws on top and some screws for the circuit board and load cell). The circuit board seems quite simple - 6 capacitors, a resistor and a microcontroller connected to a screen, led backlight, and load cell. Unfortunately the micro is covered with epoxy and i'm no reverse engineer.I'll have to make my own circuit to read the load cell, which is a chunk of aluminum with a strain gauge on each side. At college I scoffed when they taught us how to build a load cell - guess I was mistaken.