The Straits Times
Smart home tech poised to shake up handyman services
Although digitalisation is the trend, some parts of the home still need the services of traditional handymen.ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
https://str.sg/Jy65
They can read the article in full after signing up for a free account.
Share link:
Or share via:
Sign up or log in to read this article in full
Sign up
All done! This article is now fully available for you
Read now
Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month for the first 3 months.
Get unlimited access to all stories at $0.99/month for the first 3 months.
The sole breadwinner in her family, Mdm Ainiah Mahmot has been working as a cleaner for 14 years. Though initially reluctant to accept this job, she found herself starting in a supervisory role, and proved such a quick learner and diligent worker that she was promoted to being a senior supervisor within three months of joining the company.
Mdm Ainiah, who’s with Sun City Maintenance, is the cleaning supervisor for PSA Building and Alexandra Retail Centre. In her role, she not only works with 17 cleaners, but she has also been getting help from “her baby”, a robot cleaner called Ella, since November 2019. A creation of Singapore-based robotics company LionsBot, which produces cleaning robots of various functions, Ella is a LionScrub, designed to scrub large floor areas faster, using 70 per cent less water than a human cleaner. “The reason why we bring in robots is not to take over our job,” she explained. “It does its job so we can use the human manpower hours to do other
SINGAPORE - Driverless road sweepers have been deployed to clean limited areas as part of trials launched on Wednesday (Jan 13).
If the trials are successful, these autonomous environmental service vehicles (AESVs) will pave the way for pilot deployment on roads during off-peak hours in the next few years.
The trials began this month, after the National Environment Agency (NEA) said two AESV prototypes had successfully demonstrated their features, and are expected to run till July.
The proof-of-concept trials of the AESVs will be conducted progressively, starting with off-peak timings, such as weekends and evenings, in designated small-scale environments in one-north, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and CleanTech Park at Jurong Innovation District.