Wearable Technology Bolsters Worker Safety

As the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has become more ubiquitous, intelligent sensors have made everything from machine vision systems to conveyor belts into sources of valuable data for upstream analytics. Soon, those sensors could find their way onto workers themselves. Already, wearable technology is a fast-burgeoning field that is not to be neglected. Augmented reality (AR) headsets have allowed field service professionals working in dangerous conditions to access hands-free schematics, instruction manuals, and even real-time audio-video feeds for remote assistance from potentially distant subject matter experts. Now, new types of wearables are allowing end-users to generate useful data insights as well. What’s more, the collaboration they foster between operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) professionals is helping to bridge the OT-IT divide.