Singapore Airport Police Testing Autonomous Patrol Robot for Officer Transportation

The GIBSON robot, named after the inventor of the first motorised scooter, Arthur Hugo Cecil Gibson, was developed by the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) in collaboration with the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research. Both of GIBSON's functions were demonstrated to the media at T4 on Wednesday (Jul 16). The device stands at about chest height and has handlebars and a platform for riders to stand on.

The operational speed of the robot will be determined during the trial period. The length of the trial, as well as which parts of the airport the robots will eventually be deployed in, have not yet been made public.

In autonomous patrol mode, it stopped whenever people walked in front of it. It also made detours to an intended location if an obstacle stood in its way. GIBSON is equipped with cameras, 3D light detection, sound navigation, and other features that allow it to determine its location and safely navigate indoor environments and avoid collisions, SPF and HTX said in a joint statement.

In its 'ride' mode, GIBSON can be used as a means of ride-hailing by officers. Using an internal phone application, officers can call the robot to come to where they are autonomously. An airport police officer showed how he could use the application to summon the robot, and subsequently boarded it to move around the airport using manual controls such as the handlebars.