Singapore fetches smart tourism through China's AI robot dogs

SINGAPORE — As evening falls, crowds begin gathering at Sensoryscape, a tourist site on the island resort of Sentosa in Singapore. With the sea breeze blowing and music filling the air, five AI-powered robot dogs dance to the rhythm.

They wave, jump, spin, and roll on the ground. After the performance, they interact and "chat" with visitors. Children excitedly run around them, while adults use their phones to capture photos and videos.

May-line, a tourist from Paris, France, held onto one of the robot dogs while enthusiastically asking her mother to take pictures and videos.

"It feels like I'm walking a dog, but it's a robot. That's very funny and surprising for me," she told Xinhua on May 5, adding that she would share the photos and videos with her friends back in France.

From April 18 to May 17, the Singapore Tourism Board and the Chinese travel platform Mafengwo jointly launched a pilot AI robot dog service at Sentosa and Mandai Wildlife Reserve in Singapore.

These AI robot dogs from China can not only "talk", but also "guide", "dance", and entertain visitors with playful gestures, offering overseas tourists a brand-new smart tourism experience.

The robot dogs were developed by Unitree Robotics, a technology company headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, while Mafengwo specially trained them for tourism scenarios. Equipped with multilingual interactive narration and multimodal environmental perception capabilities, the robot dogs can actively recognize their surrounding environments, understand tourists' needs, answer questions through reasoning, and interact with visitors through various movements.

Prior to arriving in Singapore, the robot dogs had already appeared at several tourist destinations in China. Their deployment in Singapore marks their first official overseas "assignment".

Addison Goh, divisional director of the Business and Experience Development Division at Sentosa Development Corporation, says that there are currently five robot dogs operating in Sentosa.

"They are probably busier than I am," he says, adding that every day, the robot dogs conduct guided tours, perform multiple dance shows, and patrol the grounds to interact with visitors.

More importantly, the robot dogs are powered by AI models.

Visitors can not only ask them for directions, but also receive personalized recommendations. Families may be guided to family-friendly restaurants, while younger visitors are offered suggestions for photography attractions and social media-worthy spots. The robot dogs also provide location-based storytelling and explanations, creating a more immersive experience for tourists.

So far, more than 5,000 visitors have interacted with the robot dogs. Whether it's the performances or the guided tours, the feedback has been extremely positive, Goh says.

Another important goal of the pilot project, he explains, is to continuously collect interaction data from the robot dogs, including in high-traffic areas, about visitor preferences, and frequently asked questions. The data will then be used to further optimize large language models and improve the overall tourism experience.

The Singapore Tourism Board describes the pilot project as "an exciting step toward reimagining visitor experiences through technology and innovation".

In recent years, Singapore has been actively promoting its "Smart Nation" initiative, and the tourism sector has become a major testing ground for AI applications.

Unlike traditional smart tourism solutions that focus mainly on online bookings, digital payments or backend data management, these AI robot dogs emphasize the interactive experience of AI in real-world settings.

AI is no longer just an invisible algorithm operating behind the scenes. Instead, it has directly entered tourism environments to perform tasks including guiding visitors, interacting with guests, recommending routes, and staging performances — becoming a kind of "travel companion".

From China to Singapore, these robot dogs are bringing the warmth of technology to visitors from around the world. Rather than just cold machines or lines of code, they are gradually becoming companions that tourists can touch, communicate with, and even share part of their journeys with.

Xinhua