Millennium Hotels And Resorts Deploys Robotic Solutions To Its Singapore Properties

Following the highly successful launch of 'AUSCA', the world's first Autonomous Service Chef Associate, at M Social Singapore in 2017, Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR), the hotel arm of property giant City Developments Limited (CDL), is pleased to deploy AUSCA to the group's five other Singapore properties—Orchard Hotel Singapore, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore, M Hotel Singapore, Studio M Hotel Singapore and Copthorne King's Hotel Singapore—by end November 2018.

AUSCA was first introduced to the hospitality industry in November 2017 as the world's first robot chef prototype, where he prepared eggs for guests of M Social Singapore as part of the hotel's breakfast offering. AUSCA was launched with the support from Singapore Productivity Centre's Hotel Productivity Centre Applied Research initiative, and was developed by Kurve Automation with industry guidance from Republic Polytechnic, School of Hospitality.

AUSCA has since gone through six upgrades over the last 12 months, with enhancements made to the speed and variation of eggs he can prepare. The first AUSCA prototype could prepare eggs—either sunny-side up or omelette style—at an average time of 2 minutes 30 seconds. The current version offers guests the choice of sunny-side up and omelette at an improved time of slightly more than a minute, and allows guests to choose from a selection of toppings for their omelette.

The latest version of AUSCA is currently deployed at M Social Singapore, Studio M Hotel Singapore, Copthorne King's Hotel Singapore and M Hotel Singapore. He will be launched at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore on 12 November 2018, and Orchard Hotel Singapore by end November 2018. This exciting deployment comes after the rollout of AURA, the group's front-of-house Autonomous Service Delivery Robot, to the group's properties in Singapore, including M Social Singapore, Orchard Hotel Singapore, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel Singapore, M Hotel Singapore and Studio M Hotel Singapore.

Commenting on this move, Mr Tan Kian Seng, Interim Group Chief Executive Officer at Millennium Hotels and Resorts, says, "As a group, we saw robotic solutions like AUSCA and AURA as a way to increase productivity, help optimise operations, and elevate guest experiences to a new level. Given M Social Singapore's size and millennial demographic, it was well-suited for such a new technology to exist first. The intention is now to incorporate these innovative robotic solutions into the rest of our Singapore properties before a global roll out."