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Floor cleaning, pest monitoring and other laborious tasks in maintaining facilities like food centers could soon be done by robots.
Five robots that perform tasks such as cleaning the floor, inspecting false ceilings, disinfecting elevator panels, and mapping the density of mosquitoes in the surrounding area are being tested on a test bed at Tampines Round Market and Food Center, and could be deployed at other centers. food in the future.
The robots are intended to relieve cleaning workers and workers from strenuous and repetitive tasks, and free them up to perform other higher-value functions that could lead to new skills, such as handling the robots, Tampines City Council said.
Tampines GRC MPs, including the Minister of Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, were at the center on 11 Tampines Street to see the robots in action yesterday.
“Robotics is a very important part of how we are going to transform the economy,” Masagos said. “This is important for now, so that we can be more productive, but also for the future, when in Singapore, in particular, the workforce will be a big challenge 10-15 years from now.
“(It’s) better to be ready now, produce these technologies, then implement them, learn from them,” he said.
The maintenance robots are developed by engineers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the project is funded by the National Robotics Program. They will be deployed in and around the market. The suspended ceiling inspector will also be used to scare away pigeons and mynahs by emitting sound frequencies directed at these birds.
Around 20 full-time engineers from the university, along with a mix of undergraduate and graduate students, are working on the project, which includes five other robots for cleaning and facilities management that are being developed and could also be tested. in Tampines.
The robots took between two to five months to develop before they were ready for testing, said SUTD assistant professor Mohan Rajesh Elara.
He said the robots are being rolled out to the Tampines market for real-life testing and “final tuning.” The university is in talks with manufacturers to identify how the products can be marketed, he added.
The project, which is also supported by the National Environment Agency, could also have the robots deployed at other food centers here, Dr. Mohan said.
A spokesman for the Tampines City Council said that 14 cleaners in the compound will be part of the pilot and will undergo between one and two weeks of training to use these robots. Using robots does not mean that workers’ jobs are eliminated. Instead, it provides skill enhancement opportunities for workers, he added, noting that with robots taking over routine jobs, cleaners could focus on sanitizing functions that are difficult for equipment to handle.
Commenting on this, Mr. Masagos emphasized the importance of collaboration between humans and technology. “Robots will never take over our jobs … We will find use for robots where it is dangerous for our workers to go, or (where) it is not a productive way to deploy our work, at the same time creating new opportunities.”
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