# Booth™ by Opio™: Developing technology to expand the reach of opioid treatment programs into rural and underserved areas.

> **NIH NIH R44** · OPIO CONNECT, INC. · 2022 · $156,220

## Abstract

The goal of this project is to develop a treatment booth with technology that allows opioid treatment programs
to remotely dispense, either methadone or buprenorphine, under medical observation through telemedicine to
a patient in a treatment booth. We believe that robotic automation is the ideal application to perform the same
mechanical functions of the nurse at the dosing window. Specifically, these mechanical functions include bottle
positioning, capping, labeling, and placing for patient. This would allow nurses to use their clinical skills,
serving patients across vast geographic regions, and only using a robot to physically dispense the medication
directly to a patient. Technology and automation will create a resilient and agile business model for opioid
treatment programs (OTPs), allowing a contactless patient-nurse experience and a centralized dosing queue
which allows clinics to share the dosing window workload across OTP clinics. The Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) regulates activities and medication storage at OTPs. That is why our first, and most critical, milestone is
to design, build, and compliance test a custom safe that meets our technical needs as well as 21 CFR
§1301.72. To determine our technical needs, we must complete the functional requirement specifications for
the hardware. After DEA approval, we will develop the software architecture and design, and prototype the
end-to-end robotic process from pumping into a bottle, capping, labeling, and placing bottle in a specified
location. After that, the complete design engineering, buprenorphine dispenser prototype, software
development and the assembly of the alpha device will be completed. The vision of this project is to be the
catalyst that allows OTPs to provide uninterrupted service to patients through a contactless and efficient
experience, provide a safe and secure method for methadone inductions via telemedicine, and to allow OTPs
expand services to rural and underserved areas through satellite medication units.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10481923
- **Project number:** 1R44DA056251-01
- **Recipient organization:** OPIO CONNECT, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Amber Norbeck
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $156,220
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-15 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10481923

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10481923, Booth™ by Opio™: Developing technology to expand the reach of opioid treatment programs into rural and underserved areas. (1R44DA056251-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10481923. Licensed CC0.

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