Stellar Lifestyle, a retail management, media and digital advertising solutions provider formerly known as SMRT Commercial, has teamed with Crown Digital, a Singapore based food and beverage technology provider, to deploy robot baristas to 30 MRT stations throughout Singapore by the end of 2022, according to Crown Digital's announcement.

Ella offers a cashless and contactless interface to serve up to 200 cups of coffee per hour to commuters who can order beverages ahead of time via the Crown Digital app and pick up their drinks upon arrival at the MRT station.

In December 2020, Crown Digital signed an agreement to deploy Ella for test marketing at JR East's train stations in Japan.

Crown Digital incorporated internal security features such as an AI-powered vision system for "live" video analytics monitoring, fully sealed chambers and solenoid IoT locks for all access panels to prevent tampering. The AI-powered computer vision system can spot anomalies like spillage and foreign objects, while a digitalized backend admin and maintenance module will update the central command center in real-time in case of an accident.

Stellar Lifestyle has made an investment in Crown Digital's pre-Series A fundraising round.

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