In modern factories, human workers still outnumber robots 20:1. While this ratio will decline in the future, humans will still be a significant part of any factory due to their great flexibility in quickly moving on from one task to the other and being able to help out throughout the factory where required. In order to achieve this, human workers must become an important part of the industrial internet of things and be seamlessly connected to the information processing systems of the factory and the decision makers behind them. Therefore, smart wearables such as e.g. gloves or glasses, will be key tools for future industry workers, by automatically documenting work results and receiving audio, visual and tactile feedback in real time, giving the worker the information he needs at any point to do his job.
This talk gives a rough overview of the industry wearable market and then covers the challenges and opportunities during the ideation, design and development of a smart wearable, the “ProGlove”. It is open for any interested audience and does not require prior knowledge.