Singapore Changi Airport to trial autonomous UK tech for luggage unloading

[Hamartia Antidote]

Changi Airport to trial autonomous UK tech for luggage unloading

Singapore Changi Airport has partnered with UK's Aurrigo to test autonomous baggage loading and handling vehicles.

aviationsourcenews.com

LONDON – Singapore Changi Airport has reported that is has signed a deal with Aurrigo, a UK-based autonomous vehicle technology firm. The agreement states that the two will jointly develop and test Aurrigo’s airport simulation software and auto baggage loading and unloading vehicles.

The two parties are already familiar with one another, having worked closely for a number of years. This will run alongside an agreement that was signed in late October 2022 for the continued development of Aurrigo’s Auto-Dolly.

“We have worked closely with the team at Changi for several years and this partnership cements our collaboration to bring the best automated solutions to airlines and airports, enabling them to improve efficiency, safety and sustainability”, said David Keene, Chief Executive Officer at Aurrigo.

The development of Aurrigo’s autonomous baggage handling products is partially funded by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.

Financing comes from a fund intended to develop the aviation industry (ADF) by using cutting edge new technologies.

The Auto-Dolly can move from one job to another, navigating itself autonomously without the need for human input.

Electric units such as these mean that the future state of aviation aprons could change dramatically if these vehicles are able to signal the demise of traditional fuel tugs and tractors.

This partnership will allow Aurrgio to demonstrate its autonomous solutions to those in the industry that may wish to utilise their vehicles in the future.

Auto Dolly unloading ULD. Photo Credit: Changi Airport

Auto Dolly on road. Photo Credit: Changi Airport

Revolutionising airport operations​

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Outlining the struggles many airports around the world face in trying to attract enough ground handling staff to operate efficiently, Senior Vice President of Terminal 5 Planning and Changi Airport, Poh Li San said:

“Similar to major airports throughout the world, recruiting enough ground handling personnel and drivers to support our growth is a challenge.”

“We have been encouraged by Aurrigo’s innovative autonomous technologies to help address these issues, and we’re excited to partner Aurrigo in joint development and testing of these solutions.”

Hopefully UK airports such as Manchester and Heathrow are keeping a close eye on this technology – their struggles to recruit in the post-Covid era have been well documented during the course of summer 2022.

Both major UK airports saw considerable disruption up to and including cancelling flights due to a lack of staff in key areas.

Their problems became so bad at one point that some unlucky travellers were forced to leave Manchester without their luggage, with only blind hope that the airport would successfully reunite them with it in the days afterward.


Changi appears to be leading the way in the breakthrough for autonomous vehicle solutions to increase its sustainability, but also reducing its reliance on needing humans to carry out sometimes laborious tasks on a daily basis.

Last year the redesign and overhaul of what will be the new Terminal 5 at Changi restarted. Expected to start construction in 2024, it will having more capacity than terminals 1 and 3 put together, whilst offering the most modern and sustainable services the airport industry has to offer.

The introduction of these vehicles could revolutionise how airports operate. All too often we find ourselves disembarking from a jet wanting a swift airport experience, only to be held up by the luggage removal from the aircraft to the carousels.

 

[Mista]

Changi appears to be leading the way in the breakthrough for autonomous vehicle solutions to increase its sustainability, but also reducing its reliance on needing humans to carry out sometimes laborious tasks on a daily basis.

Last year the redesign and overhaul of what will be the new Terminal 5 at Changi restarted. Expected to start construction in 2024, it will having more capacity than terminals 1 and 3 put together, whilst offering the most modern and sustainable services the airport industry has to offer.

We have already incorporated a high level of automation in the Terminal 4. With the accumulation of operating experience and advance in technology, I believe the Terminal 5 will bring automation to a whole new level on a larger scale when completed in the next decade.

However this is a service industry. We have to be mindful not to overdo it and turn Changi into a soulless unwelcoming airport without a human touch.

Automation is slowly but surely disrupting the economy. But jobs can be redesigned and workers upskilled to maintain relevance in this ever-changing world.

Preparing the workforce for a changing future

In this age of machines, workers will need to acquire new skills and interests as well adopt fresh attitudes, said Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, adding that the more human a worker is, the less likely he will be displaced by technology. Speaking at the...

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In this age of machines, workers will need to acquire new skills and interests as well adopt fresh attitudes, said Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, adding that the more human a worker is, the less likely he will be displaced by technology. Speaking at the Lifelong Learning Festival on Saturday (Oct 27), Mr Ong also announced new initiatives to boost continuous education and training by Singapore’s institutes of higher learning, in what he described as a major but necessary transformation for these institutions in response to new challenges. Below is an excerpt from his speech.


Changi Airport Terminal 4 will officially open in a few days’ time. I was hosted by the Changi Airport Group (CAG) on a tour of the terminal recently. It is a delicately and thoughtfully built terminal, one that we can be proud of.

What left the deepest impression on me was the pervasive and seamless use of technology throughout the terminal.

Self-check in has been made easy, using facial recognition. The gates for the departure lounge are fully automated – again, verification is through facial recognition plus thumb print, to make doubly sure it is you.

It is a seamless process made possible through tremendous co-operation between CAG and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.

Security checks of carry-ons are via a CT X-Ray machine. The resolution is high enough that there is no need to take your computers and tablets out of your bags – this also means that handlers are no longer required to help you with the security checks.

At the departure lounge, you will be greeted with delightful art pieces, even moving ones, abundant greenery and robotic cleaners.

The airport system already remembers your face, so you can scan your ticket and board the plane through an automated gate.

You may realise by now that your experience at the terminal can be entirely handled by automation and IT, and you need not interact with another human being. I asked the CEO of CAG, Mr Lee Seow Hiang, that with all these technological applications, what are the manpower savings compared to running it like Terminal 3?

His answer: At steady state, only 10-20 per cent less.

There was no large-scale destruction of jobs, because instead of check-in counter staff, T4 will have customer service staff guiding and giving assistance to travellers going through self-check in and automated immigration counters.

In the backroom, there are numerous IT and technical staff keeping the automated system going.

There need to be supervisors overseeing the cleaning robots. T4 will have half a million plants, and the number of trees is more than T1-3 combined – and has a strong team of horticulturalists and landscape professionals maintaining them.

They will have staff curating the art pieces and the creative displays.

At T4, jobs did not disappear, but the nature of jobs has changed. This is the longstanding tug-of-war between technological advancement and human adaptation. It is part and parcel of human progress.

In the case of T4, airport staff need to learn to work alongside computers and machines, to bring about a better, one-of-a-kind airport experience.

What happens in T4 applies to all industries. Workers the world over need to acquire new skills, adopt fresh attitudes, develop interests and passions.

If you are in the technology sector, you need to be tech-savvy enough to manipulate, supervise and configure the computers and robots, or at least be able to leverage new technological capabilities to raise your performance.

If you are in the services sector, you need to be able to exercise judgement and think on your feet, and provide service with a high touch when the situation requires it.

Ironically, in this age of machines, the more human you are, the less likely technology can displace you. The truth is everyone needs to possess a bit of both high tech and high touch skills.

...

 

[Mista]

Ramping up automation at Changi Airport a priority for next 3 to 5 years: CAAS director

By April, driverless baggage tractors being tested at T3 will be allowed to move around without a safety driver. Read more at straitstimes.com.

www.straitstimes.com

Ramping up automation at Changi Airport a priority for next 3 to 5 years: CAAS director​

SINGAPORE - A trial of driverless baggage tractors that began during the pandemic will hit a major milestone in the coming weeks as Changi Airport takes its next step towards autonomous operations on the tarmac.

By April, three TractEasy baggage tractors being tested at Terminal 3 will be allowed to move around without a safety driver – the first time the tractors will be truly unmanned. This is after more than a year of assessments during live flight operations.

Separately, a different set of driverless baggage trailers from British transport technology firm Aurrigo is also undergoing a proof-of-concept trial that could transform how airside operations are conducted.

In late 2022, Changi Airport became the first in the world to test the vehicles’ ability to autonomously load and unload baggage containers at the aircraft stand, which is a designated area where a plane is parked.

These are positive steps, but the airport needs to make a big leap towards actually implementing such technologies at scale, said Ms Angela Ng, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore’s (CAAS) director of aviation industry, on Wednesday.

Going forward, this will be the priority for CAAS and Changi Airport Group (CAG) in the next three to five years, she told Inter-Airport South-East Asia, a three-day aviation trade conference held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Ms Ng said airside operations at Changi are labour-intensive, hence a significant step needs to be taken to reduce the reliance on manpower.

She also had an eye on Terminal 5, which is expected to serve 50 million passengers a year when completed in the mid-2030s – more than T1 and T3 combined.

The sheer size of the terminal means more workers will be required and technology will be needed so that operations can start at a higher level of productivity, Ms Ng added, noting that the design of T5 will factor in space for different types of automation.

She said CAG and CAAS have made heavy investments in automation and innovation over the past two years, and the pandemic also provided an opportunity to accelerate and intensify trials while passenger terminals were closed due to low traffic.

This was the case with Aurrigo’s Auto-Dolly baggage vehicle and its Auto-DollyTug variant, which is designed to tow up to four traditional, unpowered luggage dollies.

These vehicles were trialled first at Terminal 4, which was closed due to Covid-19. After T4 reopened in September 2022, the trial was shifted to Terminal 2 as the northern wing is still closed for upgrading.

“There is less traffic over at T2, so we can do more advanced manoeuvres and more testing,” Aurrigo chief executive David Keene told The Straits Times.

The trial, which is funded in part by CAAS through its Aviation Development Fund, started in early 2020 with simulations of the airport’s operations.
The first Aurrigo vehicle landed in Singapore in February 2022, with the second following a few months after.

The vehicles, which are both fully electric and use Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors to operate autonomously, had to undergo stringent safety and operational awareness tests before they were allowed onto the tarmac, Mr Keene said.

In all, there were 380 different tests used to assess the vehicles before they got the clearance to go on trial. For instance, the vehicles had to show they could negotiate road crossings and stop when pedestrians were detected.

In the first phase of the trial, the Auto-Dolly and Auto-DollyTug then demonstrated their ability to travel autonomously along busy airside roadways and inside the baggage handling area.

Phase two, which is ongoing, tests their ability to operate safely next to aircraft and other ground service equipment.

As a precaution, a safety operator must be present with the vehicles at all times. The next step will be to remove this requirement.

“The airport environment is complex and every step that you take has to be safe,” Mr Keene said.

“The confidence level is high, but there is still work to do. The next stages are really important because they will start to look at how we do with live flights.”

Meanwhile, the trial of the TractEasy baggage tractors is at a more advanced stage and the three vehicles developed by airport ground support equipment manufacturer TLD and autonomous vehicle firm EasyMile have already clocked more than 2,000km at Changi.

The autonomous tractor, developed by airport ground support equipment manufacturer TLD and autonomous vehicle firm EasyMile, during a preview at Changi Airport on August 13, 2021. PHOTO: ST FILE

Mr Amaury Papillault, Asia-Pacific sales director at Smart Airport Systems, TLD’s sister company, said there are no plans to increase the current fleet yet but there is a desire to eventually scale up.

He said there is still some reluctance to accept autonomous vehicles, and this could be due to the fear that jobs will be taken away.

“That isn’t the case. There is a shortage of manpower, and we are also bringing in additional skills for workers,” he added.

Mr Keene said autonomous vehicles are increasingly viable as the cost of Lidar sensors has come down significantly. In 2016, each sensor cost US$80,000 (S$108,000), but they are now US$2,500 a piece and have 20 times the performance.

The Auto-Dolly has also been able to operate in fairly heavy rain here without much issue.

Mr Keene added: “In Singapore, if there is a chance of a lightning strike at the airport, personnel are not allowed to go onto the apron. If you have got a robot doing that job, then you can continue even in heavy storm conditions.”

Autonomous vehicles will also allow planners and designers to make airports of the future more efficient, he said. “One day we’ll wake up, and the whole airport will be completely automated. That will be a very interesting day.”