SINGAPORE – Stellar Lifestyle, a business outfit with expertise in property and retail management, media and digital advertising solutions, and Crown Digital, a Singaporean start-up with expertise in F&B technology, are collaborating to bring robot baristas serving gourmet coffee to some 30 MRT stations across Singapore by the end of 2022.
This is a key part of plans by Stellar Lifestyle, formerly called SMRT Commercial, to enhance lifestyle experiences through innovation and the use of technology in the public transport network spaces and beyond.
Mr Tony Heng, President, Stellar Lifestyle, said: “We plan to enhance commuters’ experience by enlivening and transforming Singapore’s public transport network spaces with innovative and new-to-network concepts. ELLA is an example of the kind of lifestyle concepts we are actively looking for at MRT stations across the island.”
With a retail footprint of less than five square metres, ELLA has a safe, cashless and contactless interface able to serve up to 200 cups of gourmet coffee per hour to commuters. For greater convenience, commuters are able to order beverages ahead of time via the Crown Digital app and collect the drinks immediately upon arrival at their destination MRT station.
Stellar Lifestyle has also made an investment in Crown Digital’s pre-Series A fundraising round. The deployment of ELLA, Singapore’s first robot barista, at 30 SMRT-operated train stations is part of this landmark deal.
ELLA’s deployment at the 30 MRT stations is Crown Digital’s second collaboration in a rail network. In December 2020, Crown Digital signed an agreement to deploy ELLA for test marketing at JR East’s train stations in Japan.
Mr Keith Tan, CEO, Crown Digital, said: “I am particularly proud to be working with Stellar Lifestyle on a second commuter-focused partnership that validates our larger business. vision and brings high-quality coffee to Singaporeans on the go. With this strategic investment, Crown Digital has a target addressable market of 1.4 million ridership daily1 right here in Singapore. We are working to commercialise this unique solution globally and employ high-tech talent locally.”
Working closely with Stellar Lifestyle, Crown Digital introduced improvements, which incorporated internal security features such as AI-powered vision system for round-the-clock ‘live’ video analytics monitoring, fully sealed chambers without gaps, and solenoid IoT locks for all access panels to prevent tampering. Its advanced AI-powered computer vision system is used to spot anomalies like spillage and foreign objects, and a digitalised backend admin and maintenance module that will update the Central Command Centre in real-time should an incident take place.
