Singapore Startup Antomation Builds Snake-Like, AI-Powered Baggage Loader for Airplanes
Source: The Business Times
Every time you board a flight, someone is playing Tetris with your luggage. Baggage handlers work in cramped, unpressurised cargo holds, manually lifting bags that can weigh up to 30 kg — a job with an injury rate three times the industry baseline.
Every time you board a flight, someone is playing Tetris with your luggage. Baggage handlers work in cramped, unpressurised cargo holds, manually lifting bags that can weigh up to 30 kg — a job with an injury rate three times the industry baseline. Singapore startup Antomation thinks it has found a better way: a snake-like, AI-powered system called Cargo Cobra that could eventually eliminate the need for humans inside the cargo hold altogether.
The Cargo Cobra uses a helix-shaped, extendable mechanism with embedded rollers that snake into the aircraft's cargo bay, much like the movement of a snake. Machine vision cameras and sensors detect the location, size, and shape of each bag. An AI system decides the optimal loading arrangement, and a combination of suction devices and robotic limbs manoeuvre the luggage into place. The company aims to speed up baggage loading by 20 per cent compared with manual handling while significantly reducing workplace injuries. A working prototype is expected within a year.
Founded in 2022 by German mechanical engineer Dominik Braun, Antomation operates out of a flatted factory in Ang Mo Kio with just two engineers in Singapore and three overseas. Braun, who previously built automated production lines for major German car manufacturers, says modern technology has dramatically compressed development timelines. "A small electronic control box would have taken me maybe five, six hours to program before," he told The Business Times. "Now, with AI, it's a five-minute job." The company secured a S$400,000 Startup SG Tech grant from Enterprise Singapore this year, after winning an Airbus challenge at the Aerospace Open Innovation Challenge 2024.
The market opportunity is substantial. The global airport baggage handling system market is projected to grow from US$9.7 billion to US$18.5 billion by 2034, driven by post-pandemic labour shortages in aviation. Many baggage handlers who left during the pandemic have not returned, and the Asia-Pacific region's aviation growth is expected to outpace the global average. Antomation's full-stack approach — hardware, software, and AI integrated into a single system — positions it to address both the efficiency and safety problems that have plagued the industry for decades.
Why it matters for Singapore: Antomation's Cargo Cobra is a textbook example of how Singapore's ecosystem supports deep-tech hardware startups that combine AI with physical automation. From the Startup SG Tech grant and the Airbus challenge win to the company's ability to iterate rapidly using 3D printing and AI-assisted coding, the story reflects Singapore's growing strength in industrial AI — not just software, but systems that move, sense, and manipulate the physical world. As Changi Airport and SATS continue to invest in AI-driven ground operations, Antomation's timing could be just right.