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Amazon Patents Wristbands Designed To Track and Steer Employees' Movements (nydailynews.com)

New submitter hyperclocker shares a report from NY Daily News: Amazon workplace employees may soon be guided by their wrists. The tech company this week received two patents for a wristband designed to guide warehouse workers' movements with the use of vibrations. The concept relies on ultrasonic sound pulses or radio transmissions to detect the position of an employee's hand in relation to a series of inventory bins, GeekWire reported. Upon receiving product orders, warehouse workers are required to retrieve the requested item from such bins or shelves and pack it in a delivery box before moving on to the next order. If a worker's hands begin to move toward the wrong direction, the proposed "haptic feedback system" would cause the wristband to buzz and direct their hand in the correct direction. The wristbands, according to the patent documents, were designed as a means to keep track of products within Amazon warehouses as well as up day-to-day productivity. The proposed tech, however, could also provide Amazon management with a new means of workplace surveillance that would alert them to staffers who are wasting time or breaking for too long.

4 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. It's MANNA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

    1. Re: It's MANNA! by Bruha · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly what I thought. Next will come the shock collars.

  2. GoPro camera hats instead by rjejr · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People could probably fake hand movements, they should instead make all workers put on a GoPro camera hat so they can constantly monitor what every one is doing and looking at then shock their brain when they do or look at something wrong. Problem solved.

  3. Employee "Upgrade" by Shogun37 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why convert to robots, when you can convert your human workers to computer control!? Hey! Why not have your "employees" chained to their posts!? And have them work 16 hour shifts, for pennies an hour!! Actions like these are what caused unions and higher overwatch of employers by governments. Too bad the corporations own both nowadays.