Drones Serving in Restaurant now

Singapore businesses are embracing robotics as they deal with a manpower crunch

As shown in the photo above, a drone is serving people with a glass of beverage on it. 

Singapore's food and beverage industry is experimenting with unmanned aerial vehicles, aka drones, as it deals with a severe labor crunch that is raising costs for businesses and forcing some to shut down or curtail services.

Advanced robots can boost productivity by up to 30 percent in some industries and lower total labor costs by a third in South Korea and 25 percent in Japan by 2025, according to a Boston Consulting Group report this week. Robotics are already widely used in Japanese factories, as well as in therapeutic functions and in banks.

Singapore has imposed higher levies for overseas laborers and set tighter limits on employing non-Singaporeans in some industries after discontent over the growing numbers of foreign workers. Its jobless rate was 1.9 percent at the end of the fourth quarter, the lowest among developed nations in Asia Pacific, compared with 6.1 percent in Australia and 3.4 percent in Japan.

Singapore businesses may embrace robotics more enthusiastically as the government favors boosting productivity and innovation, said Junyang Woon, CEO at Infinium Robotics, which designed and developed the drones for Timbre. The challenge isn't in finding more takers for its technology, it's in the drones' aesthetics. "They not only have to be safe, they have to look safe," said Woon. "And they have to look less menacing."