Marketing, sports data software join fight pandemic
Devices designed for bettering customer marketing and sports activities performance are now used in the fight COVID-19 as businesses deploy their systems to meet up new needs through the pandemic.
Hitachi-LG Data Storage at first developed its 3D LiDAR People Counter sensor for retail stores to track shoppers' actions and analyze data as a way to improve revenue and customer satisfaction.
The company, a joint venture between Japan's Hitachi and South Korea's LG Electronics, has now paired the application with a heat recognition and camera software that takes customers' temperatures and checks if they're wearing a mask with a facial recognition system.
The technology monitors the quantity of individuals and their activities to lessen congestion and it estimates wait times at cash registers, in reducing infection risks. It can also determine whether a customer has halted by a particular area for instance a required hands sanitizer station.
It comes as sellers seek to create a safe environment and restore peace of mind to the in-store encounter simply because fears of infection have driven customers away through the pandemic.
"It had been often used for marketing before but recently it has been used in various spots for unmanned stores. Since the coronavirus the amount of unmanned retailers has improved quite a bit," Norimoto Ichikawa, brain of Hitachi-LG Info Storage's software development staff, advised Reuters at the gross annual Wearables Expo in Tokyo.
Union Tool, exhibiting at the same trade present, said it had been hoping to market its wearable heart sensor for applications including as being a monitoring unit for COVID-19 clients at quarantine hotels.
The sensor, which can remotely monitor a person's heart rate and temperature, is currently used for health control and assortment of biometric info for sports and exercise.
Union Instrument is teaming with Toyobo for the sensor to be used with the latter's stretchable conductive film for wearable units and found in clothing.
"If the amount of patients increases later on and more people will need to be quarantined at home or hotel, I think there's a opportunity that such sensors can be utilised to remotely keep an eye on people's condition instantly," said Naoki Jimbo, head of Union Tool's revenue and marketing department.
Source: japantoday.com
