TOKYO (Reuters) – Tools designed to improve consumer marketing and sports performance are now being used in the fight against COVID-19 as companies use their technologies to meet new needs during the pandemic.
Hitachi-LG Data Storage developed the 3D LiDAR People Counter sensor for retail stores to track customer trends and analyze data to improve sales 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 detector and camera that monitors customers’ temperatures and checks whether they have a mask with a system looking for a face.
The technology monitors the number of people and their movements to reduce congestion and estimates waiting times at cash registers, to help reduce the risks of infection. It can also determine if a customer has stopped with a particular area such as an essential hand sanitation station.
It comes as retailers try to create a safe environment and bring peace of mind back to the in-store experience as there is a fear of infection to dispel buyers at the time of the pandemic. .
“It has often been used for marketing purposes but more recently it has been used in a number of places for unmanned stores. Since the coronavirus the number of unmanned stores has gone up dramatically, ”Norimoto Ichikawa, head of Hitachi-LG Data Storage’s software development team, told Reuters at the annual Wearables Expo in Tokyo.
Union Machine, which is exhibiting at the same trade show, said it hoped to market the affordable heart sensor for applications including as a monitoring tool for COVID-19 patients at home quarantine hotel.
The sensor, which can monitor a person’s heart rate and temperature, is now used for health management and biometric data collection for sport and exercise.
Union Tool is partnering with Toyobo to use the sensor with the latest affordable instructional film for wearable and usable devices.
“If the number of patients increases in the future and more people need to be quarantined at home or in the hotel, I think it is possible that this will be the case. use sensors to monitor people’s condition in real time, ”said Naoki Jimbo, head of Union Tool’s sales and marketing department.
Reciting with Akira Tomoshige and Mayu Yoshida; Written by Chris Gallagher; Edited by Kim Coghill