ISOTeam Inks MOU with Nippon Paint Singapore & Acclivis to Develop Autonomous Painting Drones for Building Façades
The partnership aims to improve productivity and reduce manpower reliance through the use of technology, promising benefits such as higher efficiency and safety, increased cost-effectiveness and better quality control plus enhanced environmental friendliness.
ISOTeam Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Acclivis Technologies and Solutions Pte Ltd and Nippon Paint (Singapore) Co. Pte Ltd to develop and enable the use of autonomous painting drones for the painting of building façades or structures. The collaboration is part of ISOTeam’s strategy to improve its productivity and manpower deployment through the use of technology.
Under the MOU, ISOTeam will lend its expertise in painting know-how and project management while Acclivis, a provider of technology solutions in the enablement of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”), Video Analytics and Automation in Asia Pacific, will spearhead the technology and development work in painting drones. Acclivis is a subsidiary of CITIC Telecom International Holdings Limited listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Nippon Singapore, Asia Pacific’s leading manufacturer and distributor of paint and coatings and a strategic working partner of ISOTeam since 2004, will focus on marketing this new service through their global networks.
This MOU comes hot on the heels of the Group’s recent announcement on 22 October 2021 that it intends to deploy AI and drone technology for building façade inspections. ISOTeam had entered into a five-year collaboration with H3 Dynamics Pte Ltd to work together exclusively for Housing and Development Board (“HDB”), town councils as well as commercial and condominium building façade inspection projects that are secured by ISOTeam. Following this, the Group has secured a building façade inspection and repairs contract for 154 HDB blocks and will work with H3 Dynamics to utilise AI and drone technology for this project.
Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Anthony Koh, said: “The challenges arising from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the adoption of technology and we are very glad to be able to work with esteemed and like-minded partners who are keen to explore such new applications with us. The use of AI in the built environment has become increasingly relevant with the challenges in labour availability and cost in Singapore today. This latest collaboration with Acclivis and Nippon Singapore aims to further expand our use of drone and AI technology to high-altitude spray-painting and roller-painting of building exteriors or other structures. It is not only safer and more environmentally friendly but also requires less equipment and labour. Ultimately, the use of such drones will allow ISOTeam to improve our efficiency in terms of time and costs across our repairs and redecoration operations.”
The Group expects the eventual use of autonomous painting drones in its operations to yield significant cost and time savings as fewer workers are required, and the site preparation time, as well as overall project duration, is shortened as the installation of scaffolding is no longer necessary. Quality control is also improved as the drones offer standardised operations and multiple ways for quality assurance inspection and tracking.
Some of the key functions of autonomous painting drones include remote control, high-precision position and posture control for spray quality assurance, the ability to perform coating supply from a ground station via a lift system and from an airborne container, offer real-time status monitoring among others.
Lead image from Unsplash.