Amazon warehouse worker tracking wristband prompts backlash

An Amazon plan to track its warehouse employees' hand movements prompted concerns about privacy, surveillance and the dehumanisation of its workforce.

Amazon successfully applied for a pait of patents for a wristband designed to track warehouse employees' hand movements and provide haptic feedback to guide them in their tasks, with the aim of streamlining the process of retrieving and packing items, potentially allowing workers to fulfill more orders quickly.

Filed in 2016 and awarded in January 2018, the patents describe a set-up that includes wristbands equipped with ultrasonic devices, receivers around the warehouse, and a management module to oversee operations. If a worker's hand moves toward the wrong item, the wristband would vibrate to redirect them.

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