Singapore deploys AI robots for retail

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

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./.

VNA