As if dominance of the soaring eCommerce sector wasn't enough, now Amazon, through its AWS web services unit, is taking aim at monitoring equipment and workers in factories and distribution centers, making a bold me to gain traction in a new market for the on-line giant.
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| Such concerns about privacy n this system seem almost irrelevant, as many companies for years of course monitor employee behavior at an individual level already. Facial recognition is simply one more way. |
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As if dominance of the soaring eCommerce sector wasn't enough, now Amazon, through its AWS web services unit, is taking aim at monitoring equipment and workers in factories and distribution centers, making a bold move to gain traction in a new market for the on-line giant.
Amazon says the new solutions widely incorporate machine learning and include sensors to monitor the health of equipment, plus computer vision systems that can detect, for example, if workers are complying with social distancing or other policies.
In fact, Amazon says it actually developed its own two-inch long low-cost sensor, which it call the "Monitron," and which can be attached to equipment to monitor vibrations, temperatures, moisture and other conditions, and catch or predict maintenance requirements or warn of potential issues for products.
In addition, the company says a new service is called AWS Panorama will use computer vision to analyze videos taken inside a factory or distribution center, looking, for instance, for safety and violations of compliance policy issues, such as workers not wearing masks or failing to maintain appropriate social distancing. The system could also identify fork trucks being driven in unauthorized areas, or even not taking the most efficient routes.
Amazon announced the new systems last week during its annual cloud computing conference, saying the new services to collect and analyze data in domains that are ripe to drive operational improvements.
"If you look at manufacturing and industrial generally, it's a space that has seen some innovations, but there's a lot of pieces that haven't been digitized and modernized," Matt Garman, head of sales and marketing for AWS, told the UK's Financial Times.
He added that "There's a ton of data in a factory, or manufacturing facility, or a supply chain. It's just locked up in sensors, locked up in machines that a lot of companies could get a lot of value from."
Amazon Monitron Sensor
According to the arstechnica.com web site, Amazon said it had installed 1,000 Monitron sensors at a German fulfillment center, where they are used to monitor conveyors and sortation systems.
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Of course, this level of monitoring, especially using the vision systems, brings criticism relative to worker privacy rights.
Amazon responded to those concerns by saying none of the services announced would include "pre-packaged" facial recognition capabilities, and he said AWS would block clients which abused its terms of service on data privacy and surveillance.
But such concerns about privacy for this system seem almost irrelevant, as many companies for years of course have been monitoring employee behavior at an individual level already. Facial recognition is simply one more way.
The Monitron sensors and some of the services are ready to buy right now, Amazon says.
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