Robotic pallet trucks and stackers, tow tractors, forklifts and trucks that can operate in factories, warehouses and other spaces in the logistics sectors were revealed at the Industrial Transformation Asia Pacific trade fair at Singapore Expo.

Developed by Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering), these machines, collectively known as STROBO, can operate in very narrow aisles, all suited to performing routine and repetitive material handling tasks. ST Engineering drew on its expertise in making defence gear to develop the robots.

With advanced pallet detection and recognition capability, STROBO can accurately pick and place cargo and is easily integrated into production, logistics and warehouse environments. The pallet stackers and trucks, for example, can recognise pallets that need to be stacked and come equipped with collision detection capabilities to prevent accidents.

William Lee, senior vice-president and general manager of logistics automation at ST Engineering Land Systems, said at the robots' launch that it was natural for ST Engineering to develop STROBO, particularly in the light of Singapore's Smart Nation initiative. "This is really very much in line to support the Smart Nation initiative, so we are trying to go into smart transportation and smart logistic to support the full initiative," he said.