Fujitsu really gets it!

#5061REPLY

this will be a long term project.

As a focus of their corporation they have had sensors, fusion, IoT in focus for some YRS.now.

SO I will track their vision along.

Fujitsu’s new wearables might not be sexy, but they could save your life
J.T. QuigleyJ.T. Quigley
6:31 pm on May 12, 2015

When people think about the term wearable tech, many probably conjure up images of Google Glass and Apple Watch. These kinds of wearables understandably steal headlines – they’re often made by some of the biggest names in tech and are perceived as fashion statements. It’s only a matter of time before US Weekly puts together an exposé on how many celebrities are wearing the gold Apple Watch Edition.

Love them or hate them, consumer wearables are sexy – especially for those of us in the media. But it’s the decidedly un-sexy enterprise wearables that may become the unsung heroes of the smart gadget movement. Sure, you might not be able to use them for Instragramming, but enterprise wearables could help maintain all of that behind-the-scenes infrastructure that keeps the world spinning – all while potentially saving lives (perhaps even jobs) in the process.

Japanese tech giant Fujitsu had four of its latest enterprise wearables on display in Tokyo yesterday. Here’s how they’re going to change the world, even if you never see them in person.

FEELythm
Feelthym

First announced back in January, FEELthym is a unique wearable device for long-haul truck, bus, and taxi drivers. It features two main parts: the wearable itself and a receiver unit that can be mounted inside the vehicle’s cabin.
Worn around the neck and shoulders, FEELthym utilizes a pulse sensor that clips to a driver’s earlobe. Using

an algorithm

developed by Fujitsu Laboratories, the pulse sensor can gauge drowsiness. If it detects that a wearer is on the verge of falling asleep, it can trigger a gentle vibration in the neck unit or initiate an audio warning. The data is also transmitted to the fleet’s dispatch personnel, who can preemptively radio in with the driver and check on their condition if the pulse data indicates that they’re feeling fatigued.

Really nice!

FEELthym is also equipped with a learning function

Dr Saxe speaks of this learning in his talks..

.. that allows it to improve the accuracy of drowsiness detection on a per-driver basis. Information is stored in the cloud and shared with fleet management, allowing them to analyze potentially dangerous routes or at-risk drivers. The device’s battery lasts for five days on a single charge.

According to Fujitsu – citing data from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport – nearly 70 percent of motor vehicle accidents in recent years have been the result of human error not attributable to driving violations or skill. FEELthym has real potential to save the lives of professional drivers and the ordinary people who share the road with them. The device went on sale in March.

Ubiquitousware HMD
FujitsuHMD2

Fujitsu’s head-mounted display (HMD), revealed to the public yesterday, is the latest offering in its enterprise-focused internet of things (IoT) initiative – dubbed Ubiquitousware. It features a 0.4-inch display, a camera, two microphones, and an array of sensors – each of which can be operated with an arm-mounted keyboard or voice controls.

The firm is positioning the HMD as a support tool for infrastructure maintenance and assembly work. The camera allows a remote monitor to see exactly what the wearer is seeing, and the display can be used to show directions and other particulars. A demonstration I was able to participate in simulated a simple repair to a radio antenna. When I looked at the antenna, a QR code attached to it triggered the support staff, who told me via the headset’s speakers to unscrew one of the cables. They even drew a virtual arrow that appeared in the display, showing me exactly which one they were talking about.

HMD3

Doing away with physical instruction manuals and going hands-free creates a safer work environment. It also minimizes the number of on-site staff required per project, as one person can complete a variety of tasks with remote instruction from an off-site expert. Instead of older, highly-experienced workers going into early retirement, they can leverage their specialized knowledge by helping younger staff complete difficult tasks remotely – an important selling point in aging, shrinking Japan.

Because it’s designed to work in rugged environments, Fujitsu’s HMD is water- and dust-resistant and can survive a 1.5-meter fall. A light sensor automatically adjusts the display depending on external brightness, and the battery lasts for approximately four hours. It runs on Android 4.4 KitKat and comes equipped with a 1.2GHz quad-core processor. It’s on sale to enterprise customers in Japan as of yesterday, but specific pricing wasn’t revealed at the press conference.

Ubiquitousware location badge
Fujitsubadge

Another part of the Ubuiquitousware line is the deceptively plain location badge. The white plastic badges are about the same size as a standard office badge or name tag, but each is equipped with “pedestrian dead reckoning” (PDR) technology. PDR utilizes an accelerometer, combined with standard GPS, to provide highly accurate location data even when a wearer is inside a building (it’s also the same tech that allows your smartphone to be used as a compass).

Fujitsu’s location badges are so accurate that they can even detect when a wearer has fallen down. At the press conference, a Fujitsu staff member demonstrated this feature by pushing a mannequin wearing the badge onto the floor. A large display showing a simulated warehouse floor received an alert for the “employee” as soon as the mannequin hit the ground.

The badge’s precise readings can also be used to alert a floor manager when a staff member has ascended a wobbly ladder or if they’re driving too fast on a forklift, for example. No one wants to be nagged by the boss, but real-time monitoring could lead to fewer accidents in warehouses and factories where the technology is deployed.

Doctors and nurses at a hospital in Finland are currently testing the location badge’s capabilities. In addition to knowing where personnel with specific specialities are at any given time, location tags are also being used for medical equipment to prevent loss or misplacement.

Ubiquitousware vital-sign sensing band
Fujitsuband

Fujitsu’s vital-sensing band collects data about a wearer’s physical well being and changes his or her environment. It includes sensors for pulse rate, temperature, location, and humidity. Using what the firms calls its “Human-Centric Engine,” custom algorithms can monitor stress levels and fatigue, allowing managers to view a remote snapshot of each worker’s physical condition.

Add Fujitsu to a company that has their own algos…”Human-Centric engine” that could be ported onto an S3?
So there are more such companies than we realize…Jawbone, Fitbit, Fujitsu….many others.
One demonstration showed a mannequin wearing the band under a heat lamp to mimic working at a hot construction site. As the thermometer approached 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), an alert was sent to the monitoring screen to inform management that the weather was becoming dangerously hot. Such monitoring could save outdoor workers from heat stroke or hypothermia, allowing site managers to better implement break times.
Fujitsutest
Speaking of breaks – because the wearable also utilizes location-tracking technology, supervisors can tell if a worker has decided to post up in the cafeteria for too long (and the pulse monitor can probably tell if someone’s fallen asleep on the job). Like the location badge, it can also detect falls and other accidents.
Fujitsu’s vital-sensing band is currently being tested by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization. If a farmer tips over while using farm equipment – like a tractor – and doesn’t stand back up in a specified amount of time, the band will send an alert to his or her colleagues and family members.
The current iteration is a solid black square, devoid of a screen or buttons, with the company’s simple infinity logo in the center. A Fujitsu spokesperson told Tech in Asia that future versions could be upgraded with screens, alert lights, or vibration functions.
Both the location badge and vital-sensing band are scheduled for a public debut in December.
Editing by Steven Millward
Very nice- well thought out devices. The segment of enterprise wearables may not be as sexy as the Apple watch, but you have to like what these things do?
For the casual reader, Fujitsu has been focused on this for some yrs already and these devices show it.

#5062EDIT | REPLY

When you think in house algos start to realize its not just Apple and Samsung…

these guys have it well thought out…

Source: Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu Develops UBIQUITOUSWARE, an Internet-of-Things Package that Accelerates Transformation of Business
Uses sensing and proprietary analysis algorithms to quickly provide valuable, actionable data for businesses

Fujitsu today announced that it has developed FUJITSU IoT Solution UBIQUITOUSWARE, an Internet-of-Things package that senses the status of people and things and their surrounding environments and analyzes the data to quickly provide valuable, actionable data tailored to a customer’s business. This seems better to me than Samsungs ARTIK……
UBIQUITOUSWARE Overview

TOKYO, May 11, 2015 – (JCN Newswire) – Fujitsu today announced that it has developed FUJITSU IoT Solution UBIQUITOUSWARE, an Internet-of-Things package that senses the status of people and things and their surrounding environments and analyzes the data to quickly provide valuable, actionable data tailored to a customer’s business.

The package consists of UBIQUITOUSWARE core modules that, in combination with sensors, microcontrollers and wireless communication function to analyze sensing data

QUIK can you get these guys to have your S3 in the ecosystem? THanks in advance.

. These core modules work in tandem with middleware that uses sensors to learn and analyze data in the cloud. Sensing data is analyzed using the Human-Centric Engine, Fujitsu’s proprietary algorithms, which convert data into information that customers can put to use quickly, such as fall-detection or body-posture detection.
UBIQUITOUSWARE is available as a package of modules and middleware that is easily installed in existing devices and systems. The first example of a device embedded with UBIQUITOUSWARE is the UBIQUITOUSWARE Head Mounted Display, announced today. Location badges, vital-sign sensing bands, and other products will be rolled out beginning December 2015.

Fujitsu has begun field testing of UBIQUITOUSWARE with customers and is making initiatives toward its deployment within the Fujitsu Group. The results of these efforts will be used to expand its IoT business into a variety of fields.

As the era of the Internet of Things approaches, Fujitsu is pursuing Human-Centric IoT initiatives to help companies

I really like their focus as its not the same, ie enterprise…

develop new and valuable lines of business using a wide range of digital information. Building on the base of its Human-Centric Engine that it has developed through PCs and mobile devices, the company is now offering UBIQUITOUSWARE as the front-end interface for Human-Centric IoT.

Prototypes of new devices with embedded UBIQUITOUSWARE will be exhibited at Fujitsu Forum 2015, running May 14-15 at Tokyo International Forum.

About UBIQUITOUSWARE

The package consists of UBIQUITOUSWARE core modules, which combine a variety of sensors commonly found in ubiquitous products, such as accelerometers and barometers, custom microcontrollers that directly control the sensors and analyze their data, and wireless communications using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE, (1)), together with sensor middleware that learns and analyses data in the cloud and that can be used on multiple platforms, including Fujitsu’s own IoT platform.

UBIQUITOUSWARE can be easily integrated with a company’s existing equipment and systems. In addition, by Fujitsu offering UBIQUITOUSWARE-embedded devices customers will be able achieve fast deployments. Moreover, to support the IoT business transformations of customers, Fujitsu is providing data that customers can use as is from its Human-Centric Engine, which analyzes sensor data using proprietary algorithms Fujitsu has refined through its development of ubiquitous-computing products.

Features of UBIQUITOUSWARE

UBIQUITOUSWARE is an IoT package that, in addition to regular BLE beacon tag functionality, enables the acquisition of data from a wide variety of sensors.

1. About the UBIQUITOUSWARE core module

The UBIQUITOUSWARE core module is a module that packages together a collection of sensors (accelerometers, barometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, and microphones), LSI devices equipped with the Human-Centric Engine, and BLE communications. Companies have the option to include other sensors to meet the needs of their businesses, including pulse sensors and GPS, for example.

2. About the middleware for sensors

1) Sensing middleware

Sensing middleware is middleware with analysis algorithms that detects whether something is in a normal or abnormal state based on data collected from sensing devices that use the UBIQUITOUSWARE core module, such as whether a person is standing or has fallen.
2) Location middleware

Location middleware is middleware that provides location information on people or things within a pre-set indoor or outdoor area based on data collected from sensing devices.

Sample Functions Implemented in UBIQUITOUSWARE

– Workout intensity measurement: Calculates amount of exercise and calories burned based on body movements.
– Posture detection: Body movements are captured in 3D to track a body’s posture, such as whether it is standing, sitting, or lying down.
– Fall detection: Body movements and barometer readings can be captured to determine whether a person has fallen.
– Location and track: Movement characteristics can be captured to estimate distance and direction travelled, to acquire high-precision location and tracking data.
– Heat-level detection: Determines heat stress on the body based on temperature and humidity, and can trigger alerts in case of emergencies.
– Physical load-level detection: Estimates the physical load on a body based on changes in the wearer’s pulse, and can trigger alerts when the wearer is overloaded.

Sample Devices Embedded with UBIQUITOUSWARE (due out starting December 2015)

1. Location badges and tags (indoor/outdoor locator device)

Prototypes will be demonstrated at Fujitsu Forum.

Features

Badges and tags use pedestrian dead reckoning(2) technology based on Fujitsu’s proprietary algorithms to locate people in locations where GPS is hard to use (indoors), and use GPS to locate them outdoors, for precise location monitoring and motion tracking, indoors and out, at low cost. The system can also detect a badge-wearer’s posture and whether they have fallen.

Sample Applications

In hospitals, commercial facilities, and warehouses, badges and tags worn by staff, customers, and objects let the wearer’s position be tracked in real time. This can be used to reallocate personnel, promote safety by detecting falls in real time, manage goods, reorganize store layouts and product assortments, optimize quantities, and make other decisions.

2. Vital-sign sensing bands

Prototypes will be demonstrated at Fujitsu Forum.

Features

Information, including temperature, humidity, movements, and pulse, from a sensor worn on the wrist can be used to estimate the wearer’s heat stress using the proprietary algorithms in the Human-Centric Engine. It can also monitor rapid changes in barometric pressure and motions that would signal a fall by the wearer.

Sample Applications

Worn by workers in construction, manufacturing, or agriculture, this can be used to estimate heat stress from the surrounding environment, whether the wearer is taking breaks, and health status, to help manage the worker’s health. Also, this can be used to detect falls or other accidents, to respond to them more quickly, and to make the workplace safer.

3. Remote monitoring station

Features

This captures live sounds, including speech, coughs, breathing during sleep, and movements, with the microphone built into the station, and tracks changes in status using Fujitsu’s proprietary sound-analysis methods. This also analyzes a person’s patterns, which have been learned. The temperature and humidity sensors can estimate heat stress.

Sample Applications

Placed in a residential facility for the elderly, this can be used to detect when residents leave and return, to prevent heatstroke, and to confirm their status and assist with relief in the event of a disaster.

4. Total solution for pet monitoring (pet activity sensor unit and monitoring station)

Features

This photographs in real time the pet left home alone, and maintains a pet-activity log. The log is analyzed using Fujitsu’s proprietary algorithms to automatically detect changes in the pet’s activity levels, and issue alerts in the event of heat stress or dehydration. This helps pet owners look after their pets even when they are away.

About the Preliminary Field Testing of UBIQUITOUSWARE

Fujitsu is beginning testing in three sectors with companies using UBIQUITOUSWARE, as well as initiatives toward implementation within the Group.

Agriculture: Farm-equipment tip-sensor service

For: the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization’s Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution

Overview: This will be a joint research project into providing rapid relief and safety monitoring in which farmers will wear vital-sign sensing bands that will detect when a farmer has tipped over on piece of farm equipment and whether the farmer has stood up within a specified time period. If not, the farmer’s family or other preset parties will be automatically notified. Testing on vital-sign management for famers is also planned.

Medicine: Patient location tracking

For: Etela-Pohjanmaan sairaanhoitopiiri, Finland

Overview: This will be a joint development of an in-hospital service in which patients will wear location badges, and if they need help from a doctor or nurse, will touch a button that sends their location and prompts nearby doctors and nurses. Another joint development will be aimed at improving operational efficiency by applying location tags to equipment so that it can be visually mapped to prevent loss. Another test is underway to provide navigation guidance in the hospital to patients in order to improve hospital services and operational efficiency.

Industry: Improved workplace safety

For: Fujitsu Network Solutions Limited

Overview: In this test, field operators working on network construction projects for Fujitsu Network Solutions will wear a vital-sign sensing band that tracks their user ID and detects heat stress, for example, based on their location, acceleration, temperature, and humidity. This operational test designed to bring greater visibility to work locations is to begin this summer, with a full-scale rollout aimed at improving task execution in the field as well as workplace safety.

(1) Bluetooth Low Energy

A Bluetooth specification for short-range wireless communications, with high energy efficiency.

(2) Pedestrian dead reckoning

Autonomous navigation.

About Fujitsu Ltd

The detail, the focus of their market is just different than many wearable/IoT wanna bees.
QUIK can you get these guys some S3 samples? Can you get them to port their “Human Centric Engine onto the S3?

THanks in advance for your work on this.