Singapore deploys AI robots for retail

January 24, 2024 | 14:24

(0) user say

Hive 2.0, a high-tech retail innovation hub has been launched at Esplanade Xchange underground mall in Singapore.

High-tech retail innovation hub - Hive 2.0 in Esplanade Xchange underground mall in Singapore. (Photo: Straits times)

The centre offers 10 unique retail experiences for startups focusing on automation, robotics and gigital retail services.

Speaking at the launch ceremony on January 22, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling said tools utilised by businesses, such as AI, can help alleviate issues like the manpower crunch.

These innovations can help lower operational costs, boost sales and address manpower and logistics challenges often faced by retailers, the minister was quoted by The Straits Times as saying.

Bot delivery is part of a host of concepts now in operation under Hive 2. The fleet of seven robots by home-grown start-up QuikBot Technologies can navigate the maze of lifts, walkways and office gantries autonomously, and even hand items over to one another along the way.

Workers in South Beach’s office tower can get purchases such as ready-to-eat meals, drinks and snacks from a nearby 7-Eleven store delivered directly to them by a robot. Orders are placed through the QuikBot app.

At the 7-Eleven Shop & Go, the convenience store chain’s first unmanned and cashier-free store in Singapore, customers can tap into a gantry to pre-authorise their credit cards, pick items off the shelves, and exit. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology and smart cameras track and detect customers’ shopping behaviour in the store, which can currently hold up to five people at a time.

Vietnam and Singapore's strategic vision for trade and investment

Quang Anh, associate at VILAF and Vaibhav Saxena, lawyer at VILAF, spoke to VIR about the blossoming ties between Vietnam and Singapore.

Singaporean investors prioritise HCM City in expansion plans

Many Singaporean businesses and investors have given priority to Ho Chi Minh City in their operational expansion plans, especially in the fields of finance, trade and high technology.

Singapore recommends people maintain COVID-19 booster shots

Singapore's latest spike in COVID-19 cases may be starting to peak but the public needs to stay up to date on vaccinations, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on December 21.