If you’ve passed by the front of Plaza Singapura or the entrance/exit point of Dhoby Ghaut MRT station on the reg the past couple months, you might have seen workers constructing something called the “Oasis”.
Well, the mysterious structure’s completed now, and what an oasis indeed, in the middle of the Singaporean heat. It’s none other than Singapore’s first “Smart Bus Stop” — one that’s equipped with advanced gizmos and sensors to detect commuter traffic.
But most importantly, it’s a bus stop with air purification tech that blows cool air on anyone standing under it. It’s not air-conditioning per se, but when the tech cools the air down to as low as 24°C at the bus stop, we really don’t care about its mechanics.
The Airbitat Oasis Smart Bus Stop was developed by Innosparks, an ST Engineering Open lab, and will be trifled for a year in front of the busy Orchard Road stretch near Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station. The highlight of the “smart” bus stop is the Airbitat Smart Cooler, which is said to be 70 percent more energy efficient than standard air conditioners.
We won’t bother you with the tech jargon — you just need to know that it uses a reservoir of cold water to lower air temperature and blow the cooled air through overhead nozzles. Filters trap debris and dirt particles, so the air channeled through air ducts is both cool and fresh. Funky fresh.
The data-driven component of the bus stop involves advanced machine learning and sensors that detect ambient conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) and commuter traffic, which will help adjust modes and levels of energy-smart cooling accordingly. Average waiting times for commuters at the bus stop and commuter flow will also be tracked and analyzed by sensors.
As is the case for any internet-connected thing that’s labeled “smart”, there are privacy concerns — the bus stop has a camera with inbuilt computer vision and analytics that allows for the detection of “suspicious activities” such as loitering and unattended bags. Looks like you can’t hang out at bus stops anymore, lest you want to be regarded as a terror threat.
In any case, the “smart” bus stop is more good news than bad. Innosparks is exploring how the Airbitat Oasis unit can be used at other public outdoor spaces as well, and cooler environments across the island is always a welcome idea.
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