Table-cleaning robot to be trialled at hawker centre

NEA explores use of robots to supplement manual labour; two-month trial to be held

- Ang Qing

Hawker centres may get automated table cleaners under the National Environment Agency’s NEA) plan to support manual labour.

A two-month trial of a robot will be conducted at a suitable hawker centre and stallholders there will not need to bear any costs of the trial, an NEA spokesman told The Straits Times.

Observers said the robot could help the ageing cleaning workforce, but its development might be slowed by the nascent autonomous table-cleaning technology.

In a tender called by NEA on Nov 7, the agency said that while its tray-return policy has drastically reduced the cleaning workload, there is still a need to supplement manual cleaning labour with automation that can patrol, clean and wipe tables that have been vacated.

Even after the returning of trays was made mandatory in June 2021, cleaners generally must still clean dining tables as well as sort and clear used crockery, cutlery and trays of food remnants at tray-return stations before used items are washed, the NEA spokesman said.