SINGAPORE: Visitors to the Southern Islands may someday have their meals flown in from food and beverage institutions in Sentosa, after a drone food delivery pilot took off on Tuesday (March 22).
The trial, which sees Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) collaborating with ST Engineering and foodpanda, goals to prolong the attain of Sentosa’s F&B retailers to service prospects in the Southern Islands, which don’t at present have such facilities.
Under the pilot, which runs until April 9, employees on St John’s Island – akin to these working on the Singapore Food Agency’s Marine Aquaculture Centre and the St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory – might be ready to order meals from greater than 20 F&B institutions in Sentosa and VivoCity through the foodpanda app.
The meals are then transported by foodpanda riders to a take-off level at Sentosa’s Tanjong Beach. From there, a drone will take a seven-minute flight, carrying the meals over about 4km to St John’s Island to be picked up by the employees.
The feasibility and operational necessities of such drone food deliveries might be studied through the pilot, stated SDC in a press release.
Lee Cheh Hsien, a divisional director for planning at SDC, stated the drone trial has the potential to help Sentosa’s companies and improve the leisure experiences of visitors.
Last October, SDC launched a ferry service from Sentosa Cove to Lazarus Island – which is linked to St John’s Island – to broaden the vary of leisure choices for its visitors.
“Should drone food deliveries be operationally and commercially feasible, we hope that this service can be extended to our guests visiting the neighbouring Southern Islands,” he stated.
Teong Soo Soon, vice-president and head of unmanned air methods at ST Engineering, added that for most people to give you the option to take pleasure in such companies, the trial companions can have to discover a secure and safe location for the drones to land, and assume how the general public may gather their orders.
Having the purchasers retrieve food from the drones requires extra planning, stated Teong, due to issues over their security and potential for mishandling or damaging the drones.
Lee added that as trials have solely simply commenced, the companions can have to additional research when and if the drone delivery service might be rolled out to most people, and whether or not different Southern Islands may be serviced.
ST Engineering UAV pilot Tang Mun Wai positing the drone. — NG SOR LUAN/The Straits Times/ANN
Miro Banovic, head of logistics at foodpanda Singapore, stated that for a gaggle order from about 5 to seven individuals on St John’s Island, every particular person can count on to pay between S$6 (RM19) and S$8 (RM25) for delivery charges.
There are additionally sure limitations on what might be ordered he stated. For occasion, giant pizza packing containers could not match on the drone and bottled drinks are most popular to forestall spillage.
Each drone can bear a load of up to 10kg.
Camie Chua, senior supervisor of promoting and enterprise improvement at Mount Faber Leisure Group – which manages Good Old Days, one of many F&B retailers beneath the trial – stated that whereas it’s too early to decide the influence drone deliveries may have on enterprise, it’s a win for Sentosa’s F&B retailers as they’re now ready to faucet a beforehand unreached buyer section.
The eatery has a number of rice dishes on the menu for drone deliveries, in addition to lighter bites akin to hen wings and salads.
This delivery pilot throughout islands follows an August 2020 collaboration between ST Engineering and foodpanda, which noticed 5 packets of fried hen flown from Marina South Pier to an offshore vessel 3km away in a ten minute check flight.
The new pilot can be a part of the Sentosa x Enterprise Scheme, an initiative launched by SDC in April 2019 that gives native enterprises an opportunity to trial concepts, ideas, and applied sciences.
Seven different initiatives have been examined beneath the initiative, together with autonomous autos and a photo voltaic powered sunscreen kiosk. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
