Amazon Patents Wristbands Designed To Track and Steer Employees' Movements (nydailynews.com) 96
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.
It's MANNA! (Score:5, Insightful)
http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm
Re: It's MANNA! (Score:4, Insightful)
Exactly what I thought. Next will come the shock collars.
Also related: "The Human Operators" (Score:3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
"Humanity constructs advanced military spacecraft, but the ships learn to think for themselves. They kill their crews by disengaging the life support systems. However, they keep a small number of humans alive for repairs they cannot do themselves."
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That's hilarious! I came here to post that too. Last time I referenced Marshal Brain's story on Slashdot I got shit for it. But it's a great concept piece that becomes ever closer. It's second half is of course the whole point he was trying to make, not the dystopian frog boiling first half.
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Also my first thought. Amazon's been working towards building the first Manna headset for years now, it started with a computer on their warehouse workers' carts that orders them around to move packages at a frenzied pace, and this is simply the next stage in its development.
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This one should be modded +infinity.
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Could be tweaked (Score:2)
This is interesting, but what they really need is some kind of system to keep track of inventory levels. This would prevent situations where I buy something and then they tell me they don't have any on the day it was supposed to arrive. Hopefully they will soon catch up with my advanced thinking.
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Did Amazon really do that to you? Or was it one of their affiliates? Do you think it was done on purpose so they could sell the item to someone else at a higher price? Or did that item have many returns for quality defects?
Re: Could be tweaked (Score:1)
I know that many people canâ(TM)t figure out the difference between rating a product and rating the seller, but yes, it was Amazon.
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does it matter? Amazon's presenting their face for the marketplace. I don't buy that they're not equally responsible.
If a friend vouches for someone else, and that other person swipes my wallet, I'm going to blame my friend for vouching for them in addition to the guy that stole my wallet.
Trying to understand confusing data (Score:5, Funny)
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7 minutes?! Give the poor man something to look at besides the mirror!
Re:Trying to understand confusing data (Score:4, Funny)
Scene cues to the bathroom, where Hank is frantically trying to wash out a coffee stain from his favorite shirt.
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Haha - masterful!
Amazon employees TRACKED (Score:1)
This reminds me of the current state of being a truck driver: there are cameras and microphones and GPS installed in the cab, and every single thing you do, say, or expression on your face is reviewed. If they don't like the way your face looks, you can get fired. Real handy for them when it's time to give you a raise or a promotion, or when you try to use your paid leave for any reason.
No, I'm not a truck driver, I've
Wait a minute, Wristbands that (Score:2)
Turning humans in to semi autonomous robots
Just my 2 cents
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Just my 2 cents
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Those are good old fashioned emoticons, not emojis. :p
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Philosophically I don't like this idea (Score:1)
GoPro camera hats instead (Score:4, Insightful)
Employee "Upgrade" (Score:4, Insightful)
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Err...you do know they are still free to quit and find other jobs without wrist worn guidance systems don't you?
I don't think free will has been taken away at this point.
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I guess I missed the part where there were no other jobs or other companies to work for besides Amazon...?
ANYONE can quit and find a new job.
Geez, it isn't not impossible, happens every day...and manual labor jobs like this with no special training...dime-a-dozen.
Amazon Patents Employee Shock Collar (Score:3)
Please pay no attention to the dystopia behind the curtain!
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The voltage will be increased until the morale improves.
Waiting for this HR discussion... (Score:2)
Why bother with buzzers when ... (Score:1)
yikes (Score:2)
Prior Art (Score:3)
the nazis had pieces of flair (Score:2)
the nazis had pieces of flair they made the jews wear.
Track and Steer (Score:2)
The device delivers an electric shock to employees who step out of line.
Pop Quiz! (Score:1)
How does this patent intersect with rule 34?
So... (Score:2)
Why doesn't the wristband do the tracking? (Score:2)
Why does it have to be that the wristband is tracked and managed rather than the band doing navigation through it's own logic?
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Unions (Score:2)
Meat based robots (Score:5, Informative)
At this point warehouse workers are going to become commoditized robot workers, controlled by a central system and mainly valued for their grasping capability. Show up to work, walk to the item(s), collect the items as you're told, put them in the box. Then you may rest for X minutes then back to waving items around.
From an engineering standpoint it's brilliant, you "control" the "last mile" of the warehouse equation, at least until the robotics department finally rolls out their replacement for the humans.
As a human working there though, I'm sure it's pretty degrading.
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You're making a classic mistake. There are (practically) no 'zen' jobs. Instead, you have plenty of crappy, uncreative jobs that still demand full engagement, body and soul, in exchange for poor remuneration.
In an Amazon warehouse, you need to use full-body cognition because there are hazards aplenty. Three months ago, two workers were killed in a single week in their warehouses: http://www.ehstoday.com/safety... [ehstoday.com]
If you drift to la-la-land, designing your next creative artifact, this could be you. Or your co
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The jobs Hadlock describes -- "commoditized workers, controlled by a central system, mainly valued for their grasping capability... Show up to work, walk to the item(s), collect the items as you're told, put them in the box" -- already exist in the hundreds of thousands today. Walk into a Amazon or OfficeDepot or Staples or Walmart warehouse today, and this is what most staff do.
But these are no zen jobs. They need you fully engaged. The two people who died were probably doing jobs they considered routine,
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I'm pretty sure many of them will find some way to game the system. Attach the wristbands to robots, or the ol' "hang the tracker from a ceiling fan" trick to make it look like they're pacing in circles (really fast).
Wait Till Second Gen (Score:2)
The 2nd gen version of the wristbands will use TENS or similar to directly control the worker's muscles. No human cognition/'effort' required. It's like a reverse-Waldo.
Before people lose their poop over this ... (Score:2)
... haptic "steering" has been going on for a long time. It's handy if you're plowing in near zero visibility: http://www.govtech.com/e-government/Smart-Snowplows-Keep-the-Highway-to-Valdez-Alaska-Clear.html
Meanwhile one might think that reading a single 2-1/2 year old NYT article about Amazon makes formerly clueless idiot an expert on Amazon's culture and management practices. Sort of like hearing that you should drink 8 glasses of water a day makes you an expert on hydration.
First you use machines, (Score:2)
then you wear machines, and then ...? Then you serve machines.
-- John Brunner
I always thought that last part could just as well have read "Then you become machines".
Gamification (Score:2)
Could also be used to shame workers who post low scores. Management exempt of course.
Stop buying from Amazon (Score:2)
Everyone wailed when it looked like Walmart was becoming a monopoly, and they've got nothing on Amazon. STOP BUYING THEIR STUFF.