HTX Ground Robot on trial at Toa Payoh Central to support Public Officers in enhancing public health and safety

SINGAPORE, 5 September 2021 – For the first time, ground robots will be put on trial to patrol and survey a public area with high foot traffic to augment the work of public officers in enhancing public health and safety.  

This is a joint project involving five public agencies, namely HTX (Home Team Science and Technology Agency), National Environment Agency, Land Transport Authority, Singapore Food Agency, and Housing & Development Board.

For a three-week period from 5 Sep 2021, Xavier (the name of the HTX robot ) will weave its way autonomously through the crowds in Toa Payoh Central to detect the following undesirable social behaviours:

• smoking in prohibited areas
• illegal hawking
• improperly parked bicycles within HDB Hub
• congregation of more than five people (in line with prevailing Safe Management Measures)
• motorised active mobility devices and motorcycles on footpaths
  

Cheng Wee Kiang, Director of HTX’s Robotics, Automation & Unmanned Systems Centre of Expertise, said, “HTX’s ground robots are highly versatile and can be customised for broad and widespread application in different fields and operational environments. With Xavier, we are able to force multiply agencies beyond the Home Team by augmenting their workforce needs and achieve greater operational efficiency on a single robotic platform. This synergy enables government agencies to build a strong ops-tech ecosystem and continue enhancing public health and safety.”

Autonomous navigation;

• Xavier is fitted with different types of sensors, including safety features, to enable it to navigate autonomously, and avoid stationary and dynamic obstacles such as pedestrians and vehicles along its patrol route configured in advance by public officers. Deploying Xavier will augment the ground operations of public officers.

• Xavier is equipped with cameras that can provide 360-degree video feed to the command and control centre. Xavier is also able to capture images and videos in dim light and in the dark with its IR and LED illumination as well as low light cameras. Data captured from Xavier’s cameras are streamed to a video analytics system with artificial intelligence capability developed by HTX’s in-house computer vision engineers. With real-time sensing and analysis, public officers can gain insights on the these behaviours more efficiently and effectively, and activate additional resources to respond to on-ground situations when necessary

• The interactive dashboard developed by HTX and NCS further provides an overview of Xavier’s deployment and health, such as battery and communication status. Public officers can receive real-time information via this dashboard in a command and control centre, and be able to monitor and control multiple robots simultaneously. The interactive dashboard allows officers to remotely respond to incidents on the ground via a two-way intercom or using pre-recorded audio messages.