From baristas to inspectors: Singapore’s robotic workforce plugs labour gaps

SINGAPORE, Might 30 (Reuters) – After struggling to seek out employees throughout the pandemic, companies in Singapore have more and more turned to deploying robots to assist perform a spread of duties, from surveying development websites to scanning library bookshelves.

Town-state depends on overseas employees, however their quantity fell by 235,700 between December 2019 and September 2021, in response to the manpower ministry, which notes how COVID-19 curbs have sped up “the tempo of expertise adoption and automation” by corporations.

At a Singapore development web site, a four-legged robotic known as “Spot”, constructed by U.S. firm Boston Dynamics, scans sections of mud and gravel to test on work progress, with knowledge fed again to development firm Gammon’s management room.

Gammon’s common supervisor, Michael O’Connell, mentioned utilizing Spot required just one human worker as an alternative of the 2 beforehand wanted to do the job manually.

“Changing the necessity for manpower on-site with autonomous options is gaining actual traction,” mentioned O’Connell, who believes business labour shortages made worse by the pandemic are right here to remain.

In the meantime, Singapore’s Nationwide Library has launched two shelf-reading robots that may scan labels on 100,000 books, or about 30 % of its assortment, per day.

“Employees needn’t learn the decision numbers one after the other on the shelf, and this reduces the routine and labour-intensive facets,” mentioned Lee Yee Fuang, assistant director on the Nationwide Library Board.

Singapore has 605 robots put in per 10,000 workers within the manufacturing business, the second-highest quantity globally, after South Korea’s 932, in response to a 2021 report by the Worldwide Federation of Robotics.

Robots are additionally getting used for customer-facing duties, with greater than 30 metro stations set to have robots making espresso for commuters.

Keith Tan, chief govt of Crown Digital, which created the barista robotic, mentioned it was serving to remedy the “largest pain-point” in meals and beverage – discovering employees – whereas additionally creating well-paid positions to assist automate the sector.

Nonetheless, some individuals making an attempt the service nonetheless yearned for human interplay.

“We at all times wish to have some sort of human contact,” mentioned commuter Ashish Kumar, whereas sipping on a robot-brewed drink.

Modifying by Ed Davies and Bradley Perrett

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.