Changi Airport Terminal 4 trials bot technologies

They eye to make Terminal 5 the world’s largest and most automated terminal.

Changi Airport Terminal 4 was partly launched in October to be a testing ground for airport bots, Bloomberg reported. However, the goal is to make the upcoming Terminal 5 capable of handling 50 million passengers a year by having the largest and most automated technologies.

With this, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), alongside government-controlled firms worked hand-in-hand to test automation technologies. For its part, SATS is testing a remote-controlled vehicle that can collect luggage from a plane and move it to the baggage handling area in as little as 10 minutes. The firm is also on its trial use of a driverless electric vehicle to bring documents for air cargo.

“More than 1 billion people in Asia will fly for the first time between now and 2035,” SATS CEO Alex Hungate said in an interview. He believes that automation will “help the company manage higher volumes with no additional manpower.”

Meanwhile, ST Engineering is testing autonomous aerobridges that align with the plane door using lasers and cameras.

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Photo from Bloomberg.