What one piece of technology would most improve your working life?
Chances are it wouldn't be a glove. But car workers in Germany are now using smart gloves that not only save time but prevent accidents as well.
It is an example of how tech-enhanced humans are fighting back against the seemingly unstoppable rise of the robots.
At BMW's spare parts plant in Dingolfing, for example, which employs around 17,500 people, hand-held barcode readers have been replaced by gloves that scan objects when you put your thumb and forefinger together. The data is sent wirelessly to a central computer.
The hi-tech gloves allow workers to keep hold of items with both hands while scanning more quickly. While this may only save a few seconds each time, BMW reckons it adds up to 4,000 work minutes, or 66 hours, a day.
It's not just gloves; the article gives several examples of cool technology that help workers.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday December 22 2016, @12:11AM
Well they could help with the living longer bit if you give them basic income and sufficient education ;).
Or "they" figure that out on their own. Further, basic income helps a little, but it isn't the way to a longer life. Rich people aren't living much longer than poor people right now. We need breakthroughs that add orders of magnitude not a one-time ten or twenty years.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 22 2016, @05:45PM
http://news.mit.edu/2016/study-rich-poor-huge-mortality-gap-us-0411 [mit.edu]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/health/disparity-in-life-spans-of-the-rich-and-the-poor-is-growing.html [nytimes.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/11/upshot/for-the-poor-geography-is-life-and-death.html [nytimes.com]
“There is a very strong correlation between income and life span,” Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview. “But it is not inevitable. There are things we can do to change the life trajectory of people. What improves health in a community? It includes wide access to social, educational and economic opportunity.”
As mentioned basic income + education would help.