In what is being called a world’s first, California-based robotics startup Queue has developed a fully autonomous robotic pharmacy capable of automating prescription dispensing, verification and delivery.
According to the company, the platform accepts sealed wholesale medication bottles and returns these filled, verified prescription vials with little human intervention.
Source: Queue
The technology was developed in a bid to reduce pharmacy operating costs, improve dispensing accuracy and expand access to prescription services by automating the entire prescription fulfillment process — integrating dispensing, verification and fulfillment into a one autonomous workflow.
The platform’s developers explained that medications first enter the system in sealed manufacturer bottles, where a combination of robotics, computer vision and automated handling mechanisms manage storage, counting, dispensing and verification before returning patient-ready prescription containers.
For now, the platform supports around 250 of the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S. covering a large share of routine prescriptions.
The company noted that its robotic pharmacy uses multiple automated safety and verification steps to improve prescription accuracy while also reducing dispensing errors. Queue explained that the system can reportedly cut prescription fulfillment costs by up to 96% and be deployed in retail pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and rural healthcare facilities, where it promises to address pharmacist shortages, rising operating costs and pharmacy closures by automating prescription fulfillment.
With a commercial prototype already in use by a national pharmacy chain, Queue plans to expand deployments and further develop its robotics platform.
