Walmart Patents Cart That Reads Your Pulse, Temperature (vice.com)

Walmart recently applied to patent biometric shopping handles that would track a shopper's heart rate, palm temperature, grip force, and walking speed. "The patent, titled 'System And Method For A Biometric Feedback Cart Handle' and published August 23, outlines a system where sensors in the cart send data to a server," reports Motherboard. "That server then notifies a store employee to check on individual customers." From the report: Over time, the server can build a database of data compared against store location and stress response, the patent says -- potentially valuable information for store planning. Other uses outlined in the patent include a pulse oximeter, for detecting when a customer's about to pass out, and a weight-triggered assisted push feature for propelling the cart itself. CBInsights suggests that these alerts could warn associates when several shoppers need help at the same time, or anticipate when arguments are about to break out.

Comments

Re:Sounds like Liability issues

[jrumney]

Oh come on, stop pretending you believe the story that this is for the health and wellbeing of their customers. This is for one thing, and one thing only - tracking your subconscious reaction to the advertisements and promotions they have all over the store, in order to figure out how to entice you to spend more of your payday loans with Walmart.