A lightbulb went off for Jeff Goff, pharmacy director at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. When pharmacists pull medications from the 2,000 or so dispensers at the hospital, they visually inspect each medication they pick to make sure it’s the right medication, the right preparation, etc. By adding another sense into the equation – in this case, sound – he could improve patient safety and reduce the risk of medication errors.

Twenty-five dollars later, he and systems analyst Fred Roberts had a prototype. Now they have a patent application, and a safer pharmacy.