One recent success story: A U.K.-based auto parts manufacturer that serves the ministry of defense was having trouble coming up with a winning design for two parts that needed to perform in an environment with a lot of heat and sand.
It also uses an accelerometer and light sensors to snap an image when a person enters a new environment, and an infrared sensor to take one when it detects the body heat of a person in front of the wearer.
Wal-Mart has taken heat for pressuring its employees to work unpaid overtime, offering meager health benefits, damaging small businesses, polluting the environment, and even for being philanthropically stingy.