The Wisconsin company that captured headlines last year for offering to microchip willing employees is developing a more advanced chip with potential applications in healthcare, according to CNBC.
Currently, the chips — developed by Three Squares Market — don't track employees, but rather serve as an ID badge to unlock doors, log in to computers and buy snacks from the company's mini-marts. About 92 out of the company's 196 employees have volunteered to have chips implanted in their hands, and only one person — a former employee — has had the chip removed.
The new chip in development, which will be powered by body heat, will use GPS technology and voice recognition tools to help keep tabs on patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
"It's not only GPS, it's not only voice activation, it's working on monitoring your vital signs. And there are different medical institutions that obviously want that," Patrick McMullan, president of Three Square Market and chip technology business Three Square Chip, told CNBC. "It's going to tell my ... doctor's office I have an issue."
The company plans to make the chip available in early 2019 and will be seeking FDA approval, according to CNBC.