IHF Roundup: No More Lost Luggage in Lisbon and Milan, Biometric System Deployments Abound and Other Top Headlines This Week

Looks like customer complaints over lost baggage have sparked change -- at least in Europe. Both the Lisbon Airport and Milan’s Malpensa Airport have switched to RFID-enabled baggage tracking systems, eliminating unreliable bar-coded tagging from transfer baggage procedures. Many Americans will be thrilled at the thought of this initiative making its way overseas, particularly this guy.

Robots may be next on the scene to rescue injured soldiers -- or protect the coast and waters from pirates! Researchers hope that the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital will be replaced by a robotic "Trauma Pod" within ten years -- think M*A*S*H but with robotic surgeons and nurses instead. In due time, the robots will be able to insert intravenous lines and even deliver drugs to patients. Wow.

The Pentagon is also looking to utilize robotics in another field of Homeland Security to prevent piracy and terrorism in waterways. Unmanned "bot boats" can be deployed from the shores, helicopter and parachutes, can chase and ram vessels, and even utilize weapons like water cannons and sound-blast devices to scare off predatory ships. From the looks of other robotics technology on the rise, seeing robots on the water might not be so strange -- particularly if they're feeding you at the dinner table or performing surgery at the hospital. Great pictorial feature from the Boston Globe to check out here.

With the International Biometrics Group reporting expected growth of the global biometrics market to jump from $3.4 billion to $9.4 billion between 2009 and 2014, it's no surprise that fingerprint authentication, iris scans and facial recognition systems have started to pop up in areas like hospitals and even schools (more around this to come next week). While airports have long utilized biometrics in customs and security checkpoints, biometric-enabled access control is another feature on the rise, and standards for the technology's deployment are finally starting to be put in place.

Looks like South Korea is itching to get a jumpstart in that growing market. As a pioneering country in the security systems and equipment industry with a rich history as a technological innovator, it hopes that this experience will propel it into the manufacturing of the four key biometric authentication technologies: fingerprint, iris, face and vein recognition.

Sooner or later, biometric and surveillance technologies, previously isolated to law enforcement and government agencies, will find themselves in every mundane aspect of life. You might even find evidence of them in your own body -- or a friend's.