Who (or What) is A.H.B.O.I?
If a Grab robot runner sounds crazy, that is because it is.
A.H.B.O.I, otherwise known as Grab’s Autonomous Handling and Batching Operating Intelligence, is the epitome of The Grab Way. But, what is The Grab Way?
At Grab, we’re not afraid of experimenting with ambitious ideas to make better mistakes. Learning from past errors is intrinsic to Grab’s Kaizen spirit of continuous improvement and perseverance in order to implement impactful solutions that are financially beneficial to all.
So, what can A.H.B.O.I do?
A.H.B.O.I is capable of consolidating and ferrying over 350 orders to reduce delivery time by 15 minutes.
A.H.B.O.I is more than just a first step towards fulfilling more orders per day benefiting our driver-partners and customers alike. Beyond this, A.H.B.O.I is also a product that perfectly embodies Grab’s mission of driving Southeast Asia forward by creating economic empowerment for everyone.
A.H.B.O.I’s Fail Fast Dairy
Just like you, A.H.B.O.I learns from his surroundings every single day!
Life-changing innovations are never without their hurdles. New ideas are often accompanied by adversity and charming failures. Nonetheless, we have tasked A.H.B.O.I to meet the demands of this mighty challenge.
Just like any artificial intelligent robot, A.H.B.O.I has lots to say and wants to bring you alongside his food-collecting journey! Follow A.H.B.O.I’s 30-day adventure of learning through engrossing updates that will be posted on our official Twitter handle.
Itching to be a part of the marketplace movement?
You can play a direct role in helping A.H.B.O.I absorb lessons from his new workplace at B2, Payar Lebar Quarters (PLQ). Simply order lots from PLQ Mall so that A.H.B.O.I moves more around his new PLQ home. By doing so, A.H.B.O.I will absorb an increasing amount of useful data and information relevant for an ever-better performance. You’re just a few taps away from spearheading the new frontier of food delivery.
Our Tech Partner: Techmetics Robotics
Demand for safe and reliable autonomous technology, that can enable end-to-end movement of goods in both public spaces and dynamic environments, is at an all-time high. These technologies aim to free up employee time for higher value-add activities while providing a consistent user experience to customers. Techmetics Robotics is a pioneer in AMR solutions, they have deployed their robots in Healthcare, Assisted living, Hospitality, Casino and Retail industries. Their line of robots can perform disinfection of hospital rooms, securely deliver food and medicine in aged care facilities, act as a mobile concierge in event halls, deliver room service meals and linen to hotel guests, etc. Notably, they have recently deployed delivery robots in Yotel Orchard Singapore and concierge robots in Jewel Changi Airport.
Frequently Asked Questions
SAFETY & HYGIENE
Is A.H.B.O.I safe and clean?
A.H.B.O.I’s food carts are fabricated using powder-coated aluminium alloy, with internal acrylic shelving. These materials do not readily retain stains and are easily cleanable when a spillage occurs. We do a full interior wipe-down of the storage component every 2hrs to ensure high sanitisation levels. The carts are also tamper-proof by the public. They are fitted with a combination lock that only the A.H.B.O.I sitters and participating merchants have access to.
How fast can A.H.B.O.I go?
A.H.B.O.I’s technical maximum speed is <1.5m/s. However, the speed limit set for in-mall operations at PLQ is much lower than this, to ensure safety and to prevent injuries to shoppers.
What if A.H.B.O.I malfunction?
Our A.H.B.O.I sitters are trained to perform basic “rescue” maintenance work. In the event of any breakdown. A.H.B.O.I operations will paused temporarily. A.H.B.O.I will be moved to a safe storage location until our expert engineers arrive to diagnose and resolve the issue. Our expert engineers are an offsite team provided by Techmetics Robotics.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
How long did Grab take to develop this?
Grab had wanted to explore robotic food delivery as early as Q3 2020. Plans were set in motion in Q1 2021 together with Techmetics Robotics.
Did Grab develop A.H.B.O.I internally?
The green food carts, fashioned with our rider helmets, were designed by Grab and manufactured by Techmetics Robotics’ partners. The base mobility robot and its associated software are provided by Techmetics Robotics.
How many A.H.B.O.I robots does Grab have?
For the pilot programme, Grab has made arrangements with Techmetics to deploy 1 mobility base robot and 2 food carts. The latter serves to allow swift interchangeability once several orders have been collected so that there is no hold-up during unloading.
What are Grab’s long term plans for AMR?
Through conducting robotic pilot experiments, we plan to study and model the feasibility of long-term use of autonomous mobility robots (AMRs) in aiding our food delivery service provider. We will be using these learnings to improvement opportunities, as well as to assess the business case for full scale and longer-term deployment in commercial settings.
