The first fully automated pharmacies

To prevent human error.

The pharmaceutical sector faces a growing challenge in various countries: the shortage of specialized professionals, combined with rising demand for medications and pressure to reduce costs, has created entire regions where maintaining a traditional pharmacy has become economically unviable.

At the same time, any error during the dispensing or identification of a
medication can have serious consequences for the patient. It was
precisely to address this scenario that the startup Queue decided to
completely rethink how a pharmacy operates, replacing
manual processes with an automated production line from start to finish.

At the heart of this system is a closed-loop processing flow.

As soon as the prescription is validated, the medications are automatically identified and sorted. Robotic arms move vials and packages with high precision, while high-resolution cameras analyze each tablet individually, verifying shape, size, color, and other characteristics to confirm that the correct medication is being dispensed. After verification, the system itself performs counting, portioning, labeling, and final packaging preparation, significantly reducing the chances of human error throughout the process.

In addition to its precision, the operational scale is impressive: the platform was designed to initially handle approximately 250 of the most commonly prescribed medications, covering a large portion of primary care needs. According to the company, this automated model can reduce operating costs by up to 96% compared to a conventional pharmacy—a result achieved primarily through the complete integration of processes and the ability to operate continuously.

The project has already attracted investments exceeding 12 million dollars and has begun commercial trials in collaboration with major U.S. pharmacy chains; as artificial intelligence, robotics, and computer vision begin to work together, the pharmacy ceases to be just a service counter and transforms into a sophisticated production line capable of dispensing treatments more quickly, safely, and efficiently, bringing technology closer to one of its most important goals: expanding access to healthcare for an ever-growing number of people.

Nice words, aren’t they? But one undeniable fact is that more jobs will be replaced by technology—and no, I’m not against technology; on the contrary, as you’ve probably already noticed—but we do need a plan for what to do when a large portion of the population is unemployed.