From InformationWeek:
Parents taking their children to Legoland theme parks this summer need not worry about losing little Johnny, Jesper or Johan thanks to advances in RFID technology.
Children entering the parks will be fitted with an RFID bracelet that can be tracked anywhere within its boundaries - meaning that should they run off and find themselves lost, the parks' staff will easily be able to track them down and alert parents via SMS.
The scheme launched in Denmark last month and if successful it's likely to be seen in other amusement parks in the group - such as Legoland Windsor in the UK.
The 'Kidspotter' scheme represents the latest in a string of innovative uses for RFID technology. However, not everybody is convinced that Lego's motives are as well-intentioned as the reassuring marketing for the scheme would suggest.
Leo Steiner, vice president for on-demand sales at IBM, who works closely with RFID, said: "Lego will now know exactly where each customer is, how long they are spending in each area and which products are proving to be most popular."
Full article at: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/protectingid/0,3800002220,39121670,00.htm
According to their presentation at the SVCWireless forum last September, kid tracking was the original product of Savi. They only went into logistics after that failed. Guess some people are just ahead of their time.
Posted by: DavidM at June 30, 2004 12:19 AM