USU plans biometric hand readers for new rec center
By Ben Nielsen
September 18
Utah State University’s new Aggie Recreation Center is nearing completion and will feature biometric hand scanners, which will facilitate entry into the building while improving safety measures.
Currently, USU students are allowed to use the facilities by showing their student ID cards to employees, who then swipe the card to let them in. In the new recreation center, set to be finished on Nov. 19, any student who walks in can have their hand scanned and linked to their student identification number.
Jason Hermes, the campus recreation facility operations coordinator, said there are some problems with the current system.
“Sometimes students don’t want to bring their card or forget their card,” he said.
Students are only allowed to forget their ID card once per semester. With the new hand readers, they won’t need to bring in their cards at all.
“It will be nice to not have to take my card with me,” said Kyle Hurst, a student of USU who uses the fieldhouse regularly.
Hermes said that aside from forgetting their cards, students sometimes lend them to their non-student friends who haven’t paid student fees, but the hand readers will help the mitigate this so that only USU students have access to the new recreation center.
“Students paid for the new building,” he said. “So part of this process is to make sure that it is for students.”
The hand scanners are Biometric Hand Readers, or Hand Keys, made by a company called Schlage. They don’t scan the student’s fingerprints, but instead read the space in between their fingers and create a numerical code which is then assigned to the student’s A number, Hermes said.
“There are some people that still don’t want to get their hand scanned so we still have the option where they can swipe their card in the new building,” he said.
The Biometric Hand Readers aren’t the only new technology that will be used in the Aggie Rec Center. Hermes said there will also be laser-operated turnstiles to monitor the number of people who walk into the building. This way, the number of people who check in to the ARC will be the same as the number of people who go inside.
September 18
Utah State University’s new Aggie Recreation Center is nearing completion and will feature biometric hand scanners, which will facilitate entry into the building while improving safety measures.
Currently, USU students are allowed to use the facilities by showing their student ID cards to employees, who then swipe the card to let them in. In the new recreation center, set to be finished on Nov. 19, any student who walks in can have their hand scanned and linked to their student identification number.
Jason Hermes, the campus recreation facility operations coordinator, said there are some problems with the current system.
“Sometimes students don’t want to bring their card or forget their card,” he said.
Students are only allowed to forget their ID card once per semester. With the new hand readers, they won’t need to bring in their cards at all.
“It will be nice to not have to take my card with me,” said Kyle Hurst, a student of USU who uses the fieldhouse regularly.
Hermes said that aside from forgetting their cards, students sometimes lend them to their non-student friends who haven’t paid student fees, but the hand readers will help the mitigate this so that only USU students have access to the new recreation center.
“Students paid for the new building,” he said. “So part of this process is to make sure that it is for students.”
The hand scanners are Biometric Hand Readers, or Hand Keys, made by a company called Schlage. They don’t scan the student’s fingerprints, but instead read the space in between their fingers and create a numerical code which is then assigned to the student’s A number, Hermes said.
“There are some people that still don’t want to get their hand scanned so we still have the option where they can swipe their card in the new building,” he said.
The Biometric Hand Readers aren’t the only new technology that will be used in the Aggie Rec Center. Hermes said there will also be laser-operated turnstiles to monitor the number of people who walk into the building. This way, the number of people who check in to the ARC will be the same as the number of people who go inside.