Technology has been improving at a rapid pace. It seems like everyday there is a new technological advancement to make our lives easier. One of the industries that have really benefited from these technological advancements is the fitness industry. Fitness watches, pedometers, and other sensors have allowed people to track their progress and stay motivated in an attempt to reach their fitness goals. Well, wearable technology has finally reached the point where it is beginning to be implemented in other industries.
What is Wearable Technology?
Wearable technology is a broad term that encompasses motion sensors, interactive clothing, and other devices. These devices allow the wearer to take in data about themselves and their surroundings. Typically, this technology is worn on the body and comes with a small screen and an interface that can be used to check information. The way that it works is that you can input certain data into the device and then it will display it on the screen. Most devices offer some sort of analysis to help guide the wearer in reaching their particular goal.
Types of Wearable Technology
The two main types of wearable technology are motion sensors and interactive clothing. Motion sensors are able to track the movement of the user’s body. This allows for many different features that use this data to interact with the wearer in some way. Interactive clothing offers similar features but instead of tracking motion, it interprets what is being done physically by using some sort of sensors.
Industries That Can Benefit From Wearable Technology
Wearable technology can be used in many different industries to improve productivity and efficiency. Some examples of where wearable technology has already been implemented are manufacturing, warehousing, retail sales, healthcare, and the military. As these industries become more integrated with new technological advancements, they will see a positive return on their investment.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is one field that has already seen many benefits from wearable technology. Workers are able to wear sensors that track their movements throughout the day in order to find any repetitive motions they may be doing incorrectly. This can help reduce worker injuries because workers will know when they are putting too much stress on a certain part of their body. Another benefit is that these sensors can monitor how much they are lifting throughout the day in order to make sure they are not damaging their body. Manufacturing plants also have devices that use motion sensors to track when employees are using dangerous equipment or working too close to an edge where they could fall. Warehouses can benefit from wearable technology in a similar manner by connecting data collected by these sensors to workers’ smartphones in order to track their location and how many products they are picking up.
Mining
Mining is a field that already has a lot of expensive and dangerous equipment. The use of wearable technology can help to make sure the employees are safe while performing their jobs. Sensors can be placed on helmets in order to track head movement and even detect if something falls on the helmet. If an employee’s head tilts too far back or forward, this would be a sign that they are about to lose balance and fall. Sensors can also be placed on hard hats in order to track head movement as well. They can even let you know how far an object has been moved from its original location just by picking it up with a forklift. Workers in this industry use these sensors to monitor how and where they travel during a shift in order to reduce accidents and increase productivity. The mining equipment also uses wearable technology in order to improve efficiency and reduce the effects of wear and tear on equipment.
Retail
Since retail is based around customer satisfaction, the goal is to provide good service in order to get repeat customers. Wearable technology can help with this by providing employees with data that they never had access to before. One way that it does this is through head-mounted displays. These devices are able to assess how well an employee provides information about a product to a customer. If the employee is not providing enough information or it is being provided incorrectly, this data will show up on their display so that they can correct their behavior. Knowledgeable employees are also able to provide higher quality service which can lead to more sales. Retail stores are also using wearable technology in order to get better insight into their customers’ shopping habits. They are able to track how long a customer spends in the store, where they walk, and what displays they interact with. This information can help retailers make changes to their store layout in order to increase their sales.
Healthcare
The healthcare field is yet another industry that has already started using this technology. Nurses are using wearable technology during surgeries to record everything they do and monitor their patient’s vitals. Not only are they using these sensors to improve the patient’s outcome, but they are also helping with medical malpractice cases by recording every step of the surgery.
Military
The military has taken advantage of wearable technology in order to help their soldiers be more efficient. The army uses these sensors to monitor where each soldier is located, how many calories they are burning during physical training, which areas of the body are being injured most often, and also keeps track of everything they have done throughout their career. These devices have also been used to improve soldier safety during training by allowing them to communicate with each other throughout the course.
Wearable technology can be implemented in many different industries, but it is still being perfected so there are very few companies that have this type of technology available for consumers so far. Some companies have started making these tools more affordable, but it is still out of reach for most people.
Future of Wearable Technology
As wearable technology software becomes more affordable for manufacturing plants, warehouses, and other industries it will be interesting to see how these technologies are used in order to improve worker safety and efficiency. As long as the price continues to drop enough that this type of technology can become affordable for the average consumer, then many different types of businesses could see benefits from investing in this type of wearable technology.
Sunvera Software develops next-level software applications from start-to-finish. We are a premier software and mobile app development agency specializing in healthcare mobile app development, custom mobile app development, telehealth software, sales dashboards, custom mobile app development services, retail software development, supply-chain software, ecommerce, shopify, web design, iBeacon apps, security solutions and unified access software.
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