Singapore Trials Humanoid Robot 'Olly' at Little India MRT Station
Singapore's Land Transport Authority deployed a 1.27m humanoid robot named 'Olly' — developed by Unitree Robotics — at Little India MRT station for a two-week trial from August 31 to September 11, 2026. Olly answers passenger queries and guides commuters to exits, with mixed but encouraging results on direction accuracy and voice recognition in a noisy transit environment.
On August 31, 2026, Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) deployed a humanoid robot named 'Olly' at Little India MRT station on the Downtown Line. Standing 1.27 meters tall in a high-visibility vest, Olly is being trialed as the authority's 'newest team member' to answer passenger queries and guide commuters to the correct exits.
The two-week trial runs from August 31 to September 11, on weekdays from 10 AM to noon — off-peak hours selected to evaluate how the robot performs in a live station and how the public reacts. Little India station was chosen for its proximity to LTA headquarters.
Olly was developed by Chinese robotics firm Unitree Robotics. It is supervised throughout the deployment by LTA staff. When a CNA journalist interacted with the robot, simple service questions like first and last train times were answered successfully. Harder queries yielded mixed results: asked for directions to Tekka Centre, the robot initially misheard it as 'Teacher's Centre' and gave wrong directions, but successfully guided the journalist to KK Women's and Children's Hospital via Exit F.
When asked to physically guide a passenger, Olly walked step by step at a leisurely pace toward the fare gates, announcing 'Please stand clear of the robot, thank you' when someone blocked its path. Unlike the humanoid robots that sprinted at blistering speeds during the World Humanoid Robot Games in China earlier in August, Olly's movement was deliberately gentle — a small crowd gathered and walked alongside it.
Retiree Steve Walker, 69, a visitor from the United States who had previously worked in robotics, made a special trip to see Olly. 'To be able to see a robot balance and walk in real time, with no wobbliness, I've been really impressed with that,' he said, though he noted the robot struggled to filter background noise. LTA stated there is no immediate plan for permanent deployment, describing the trial as exploratory.
To be able to see a robot balance and walk in real time, with no wobbliness, I've been really impressed with that.
— Steve Walker, US visitor and former robotics professional
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