Drones Would Deliver Food in Punggol by 2023


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Welcome to the future, kids. Cuz that’s where Singapore’s headed.

We all know by now the famous tagline: Singapore’s a ‘Clean and Green’ city.

And that might have been good in the past, but not anymore. We are now gonna be adding Smart Nation to our list of accolades.

By 2023, the Punggol Digital District (PDD) is gonna be up and running. Never heard of it?

Well, the PDD is a going to be a district in Punggol that is geared towards the digital and cyber-security industries sector.

It will incorporate innovative technologies and ideas (which we will get into) and create a high-tech work-learn-play environment. Think of it as Singapore’s own Silicon Valley.

So just how high-tech and futuristic is this district gonna be?

To answer you simply – very. 

Image: TheStraitsTimes

On 10 July 2018, the government signed an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with ST Engineering and JTC Corporation. This agreement supports the two agencies’ plan to create an open digital platform system.

This digital platform will integrate various systems within the district – cooling, heating, waste, etc, and help estate managers optimise and control the resources.

By going digital, these estate managers will have access to real-time data and pre-emptive solutions which can cut out a lot of time in solving day-to-day issues and complaints.

Building occupants will be able to feedback through an app what they feel about the temperature so estate managers can adjust it and optimise energy use, for example.

Traffic video analytics will also be able to detect road conditions, and smart traffic lights will adapt signal cycles to clear congestions.

Alright, cool. Everything is going the app route. You’re also reading this in the Goody Feed app, right?

And the icing on the cake?

People working in the PDD can enjoy this special benefit that the rest of us can only dream of.

When they enter into the district’s business park, the digital platform will recognise their biometric identity.


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The platform will send an alert to the hawker centre to send the workers their favourite meal to their office BY DRONE. 

Yes, DRONE. This kind of drone.

Image: Dmitry Kalinovsky / Shutterstock.com

Wah steady, seh. I also want this luxury treatment. 

If you are a skeptic thinking we can’t do anything like this yet, I’m sorry to tell you that you might have been mistaken.

Cuz just earlier this year, Airbus tested out flying drones with packages around the NUS campus, hoping to get a full trial up and running in NUS sometime soon.


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They’ve said they just need to work out the kinks in flying the drones autonomously, continue collecting data and such, before it is rolled out as a reliable means of delivery to the nation.

It will be rolled out in phases of course.

But the way things are looking with the news about the PDD, we can be certain that in the next few years, having drones deliver and pick up parcels for us will become a reality.

It’s like we are legit moving into the future-future with all these amazing developments. Freakin amazing, I tell ya.

This isn’t new

This isn’t even the first time using drones to deliver food was tested. In 2016, FoodPanda tested delivering food in Singapore via drones!

But they have said that the main challenge in Singapore is getting the drones to the correct floor and unit of HDBs, condos and apartment buildings in general (you know, unlike in other countries whereby people live in houses instead of $400K pigeon holes).


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They are definitely fired up to make it a reality to boost business tho, considering all the recent intense competition they’ve been getting from. Not that we’re complaining, though seriously they’ll get the thumbs-up from me if they reduce the prices instead.

All I know is that in 2023, this drone-flying-food thing is gonna be a reality. In the PDD at least. And I cannot wait.

And just when you think that controlling traffic so no more jams, regulating temperature and flying food to your office by drones wasn’t cool enough, the PDD will be taking things even further.

How?


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The government also signed two other agreements yesterday – one with ISO Landscaping and the other with Robin Village Development.

These agreements will support developing a floating solar system for coastal marine conditions, as well as support researching the use of 3D concrete printing to expand HDB’s design and construction capabilities.

Amazing, right?

We’ve actually got so much to look forward to in the coming years as a nation and I’m very excited to see where Singapore goes with this Smart Nation thing.

That don’t mean I ain’t gonna pray that the AIs don’t kill us all, tho.

In the meantime, I’m gonna start looking out ways to get my house/work in that very coveted PDD area.

I mean they did say that having the PDD would create 28,000 jobs.

#shouldhavestudiedITinuni


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Now you know what Singaporeans are talking about today; do check back tomorrow for another piece of news of the day!