Punggol Digital District to Host Large-Scale AI Robot Trials by End-2026

Digital Development and Information Minister Josephine Teo made the announcement on 20 May, speaking on the first day of the Asia Tech x Summit, now in its sixth edition, held at Capella Singapore from 20 to 22 May. The event is attended by global tech industry players and policymakers.

Mrs Teo said robots can help workers enhance service delivery to areas that are currently underserved, and affirmed Punggol Digital District as a frontier AI test bed. She added that the growing network of industry partners using the district’s ecosystem to test and experiment helps to spread acceptance and adoption.

The initial eight firms working with government agencies and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) are Grab, DHL, Certis, home-grown start-up QuikBot, software firms FieldAI and Thoughtworks, along with robot-makers Slamtec and Unitree.

The robotic fleet of an undisclosed number will roam public spaces such as pedestrian paths, office building lobbies and a university campus, in realistic environmental conditions that will allow autonomous robots and AI systems to be continuously tested and refined.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), urban planner and developer JTC and SIT said in a joint statement on 20 May that robotics and embodied AI mark a major shift in AI development, moving beyond screen-based tools to physical systems that can perceive, reason and act in the real world.

Robots that deliver food and parcels are expected to improve first- and last-mile efficiency for delivery partners. Robots that do security patrolling and cleaning will also complement human operations by working beyond office hours, patrolling hard-to-reach spaces and cleaning more frequently. This will allow workers to take on higher-value roles such as supervision, operations management and service delivery.

Robotics operators are expected to work with IMDA, JTC, SIT, Grab and DHL to co-design test bed conditions for commercially viable robotic services in public spaces. Deployed robots will be required to meet safety standards and specified operational parameters to ensure humans and robots co-exist safely.

The Land Transport Authority has given the test bed an exemption under the Active Mobility Act, so that robot operators can trial different scenarios on the district’s public paths.

Punggol Digital District, which saw its first wave of tenants set up shop in 2025, already boasts an estate-wide operating system that works with all robots for navigating roads and lifts. The Open Digital Platform, which allows different systems to talk to one another, is currently used by the likes of dConstruct Robotics, which has been testing robots for concierge services, delivery and surveillance.

Dr Ong Chen Hui, assistant chief executive of IMDA’s BizTech Group, said a cleaning robot is most useful if it can travel across multiple floors to clean the common corridors of buildings, even at night, instead of just being stuck on a ground floor. IMDA and the National Robotics Programme will also be working to develop embodied AI use cases with software firms FieldAI and Thoughtworks.

The aggressive robotic push partly stems from a lack of workers willing to take on front-line security roles, said Certis’ group chief executive Ng Tian Beng. Certis has already deployed robots to patrol Paya Lebar Green, where its office is located, and aims to create a system to allow its robots to talk to other machines, including CCTV cameras and robots from other firms.

Humans will be repositioned to do more higher-value tasks that require human judgment and empathy, Mr Ng added. More details on trials and use cases will be shared later in the year when the test bed is launched, IMDA, JTC and SIT said in their statement.

The Straits Times, 21 May 2026