Press Kit
Who are we?
We’re Whizz and we’re here to revolutionise how last-mile delivery is done. We dream of a future with cheap, efficient and sustainable deliveries. We’re turning that into a reality, one step at a time, starting with redefining how food is delivered today.
Whizz is a robot delivery start-up based in Singapore, currently operating in NTU by a team of young university students with an audacious attitude and, above-all, an absurd passion for what we do.
We’re the curator of Singapore’s first outdoor delivery robot that is…
Cost-efficient
Safe & Reliable
Sustainable
Our CEO & founder,
Melvin Foo
With a passion for engineering from a young age, Melvin tinkered with hardware, building 3D printers, 3D scanners and light shows before even entering JC. Driven by his desire to delve deeper into hardware and software integration, this self-taught entrepreneur was proficient in 3 programming languages by the time he entered university.
Amidst balancing studies as a student in the prestigious Renaissance Engineering Programme in NTU, he made his first venture into autonomous vehicles in the Shell Eco Marathon, where his team clinched the overall 1st place in Asia. He continued down that path, leading to the start of Whizz.
Latest updates?
Increase in fleet size.
We’re expecting a rise in demand from the project with foodpanda, so we will be doubling our fleet size to better serve our new customers.
Increase in radius.
Our ‘foodbot’ will now serve the entire NTU campus, covering 200 hectares and hosting a campus population of almost 40,000 members – a whopping 4 times increase in the delivery area and the number of customers served previously!
Digital Artwork
FAQs
How do the robots function as riders?
Our foodbots are semi-autonomous, so they run on AI while being supervised by a robot supervisor. For example, during a food delivery, the foodbot will travel on its own on straight and curved paths. However in danger zones, such as road crossings, we will have our respective robot supervisor take over until the danger zone is crossed.
What does semi-autonomous mean?
Currently, our foodbot is able to easily maneuver straight and curved paths. For more dangerous situations like road crossing, we engage our pool of drivers to take over.
What is the technology involved?
Our technology revolves around using a predominantly visual approach to autonomy. This is similar to how humans drive, with cameras acting as the "eyes" and our in-house software technology acting as the "brain" of the robot.
How far or long can the robot travel?
With our power-efficient design, our ‘foodbot’ can last days on a single charge.
Will the robot crash into obstacles?
We’ve upheld our name of being safe and reliable, having not encountered any crashes or caused any property damage thus far. If anything were to happen, we always have our recovery team ready to be activated within 5 minutes of any incident.
How many FoodBots do you currently employ? Who are your partners?
We currently have 5 foodbots employed in operations. We're currently in partnership with both foodpanda and Cates (another food aggregator). Both partnerships only operate within NTU.
How much does it cost to operate these robots?
Right now the main cost of robots is actually human supervision costs. We make sure to have someone supervising our robots to ensure our operations are in the highest level of safety possible.
How many people are involved in daily operations?
Our entire team comprises of 17 students. However, during operational hours, we have at least 1 robot supervisor and 1 recovery team member per shift. So at any point in time, there is minimally 2 students working within the shift.
What is the public’s reaction to being served by robots?
Most are intrigued by the usage of AI in this industry, usually taking videos and photos of our robot due to its animated/cartoon design. This has resulted in our robots going viral on social media, such as in a recent tiktok video that garnered over 600k views!