Ford Is Testing Buzzing Wristbands To Try And Keep Workers 6 Feet Apart

With the COVID-19 crisis seeming to enforce a new normal in social settings, companies are looking for ways to adjust. Although Ford is largely on pause due to the pandemic, the automaker is looking to wearable technology for its employees when the factories and plants are able to re-open.

Bloomberg reports that a small group of volunteers at a Ford factory in Plymouth, Michigan, are trying out wristbands that vibrate when employees come within six feet of each another in hopes of keeping workers from breaching the distance that health experts recommend to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

After six weeks of being shut down, the social-distancing wristband could be part of a solution to re-opening and getting back to “normal”. Regardless of the wristband, Ford will require all workers entering a facility to a thermal imaging scan to detect a fever and will provide staff with masks.

While the majority of the plants are currently sitting idle, the handful that are open are producing emergency ventilators, face shields, respirators derived from car parts, and personal protective equipment from airbag material.