photo: Ausca preparing omelette for a guest
When the friends of Michelle Yeoh, Crazy Rich Asian actress, commented that Singapore “looks so science-fiction” in the movie, they might not be that far-off the mark. Robots have entered the Singapore job market, at least in the hospitality industry.
The local hospitality industry has struggled to hire workers due to an aging workforce and changing aspirations of younger jobseekers in the recent years. In 2016, the Ministry for Trade and Industry (MTI) launched the Hotel Industry Transformation Map1. Today, several hotels have successfully implemented robots in their back-end operations as well as customer service roles.
At the Beast and Butterflies Restaurant in M Social Hotel, a robotic arm named Ausca, mans the egg station as diners patiently queue up for their choice of omelet or sunny side-up eggs. The omelet tasted as good as the one cooked by a real chef. However, it lacked extra salad and dressing that would usually be included if the dish was prepared by a human chef.
In another part of the hotel, Aura, the Front-of-House Autonomous Service Delivery robot, slowly navigates its way up the lift to deliver small items such as water bottles and toiletries to hotel guests2.
According to The Straits Times, about 13 hotels in Singapore have adopted some form of robotics technology to augment their staff3. At Sofitel Singapore City Centre, Sophie, the butler robot, delivers sundry items such as water and toiletries to the guestrooms while Xavier, the robot, assisted the housekeeping team by transporting linens and waste to and fro guest rooms. At the Park Avenue Rochester Hotel, Cobie the robot, delivers room service meals to the guestrooms. Hotel Jen is being served by robot pair Jena and Jeno.
Swissotel the Stamford has an automated self-check-in system where the guest can check themselves into the hotel by scanning their identification documents at a terminal located at the hotel lobby. The guest proceeds to choose their preferred room number from a list of available rooms and wait for the terminal to issue the room key.
Customers are currently amused by the novelty of this experience. As robots take over mundane duties, this frees up labor to focus on more intricate and personal services. In the hospitality industry, service is still king, and nothing leaves a better impression than the simple act of lending a helping hand to a guest in need.
Omelette prepared by Ausca
References:
- Transforming the hotel industry for sustainable growth (2016)
https://www.mti.gov.sg/MTIInsights/SiteAssets/Pages/ITM/Images/Hotels%20-%20STB%20FactSheet.pdf - When hotel guests need something Aura delivers (2017)
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/when-hotel-guests-need-something-aura-delivers - Hello I’m Sophie your robot butler (2018)
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/hello-im-sophie-your-robot-butler