{"slug": "this-singapore-startup-wants-to-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-with-a-snake-like", "title": "This Singapore startup wants to solve airplane baggage ‘Tetris’ with a snake-like, AI-powered system", "summary": "Singapore-based startup Antomation has developed an AI-powered automated baggage loading system called Cargo Cobra that aims to speed up the job by 20% and eliminate the need for human baggage handlers to work inside airplane cargo holds. CEO Dominik Braun founded the company in 2022 and has secured a S$400,000 Startup SG Tech grant from Enterprise Singapore to develop the system, which uses machine vision and a snake-like, helix-shaped mechanism with embedded rollers to load luggage.", "body_md": "# This Singapore startup wants to solve airplane baggage ‘Tetris’ with a snake-like, AI-powered system\n\nAntomation’s automated baggage loading system, the Cargo Cobra, aims to speed up the job by 20%\n\n[SINGAPORE] We have all enjoyed Tetris, the world’s best-selling computer game in which you arrange falling blocks of various shapes to fill a grid evenly.\n\nBut would you enjoy it as much if you had to play a similar game in a hot, airless box with blocks weighing up to 30 kg – all while on the clock of a job?\n\nIt is precisely what baggage handlers do in the belly of airplanes.\n\nAntomation, a Singapore-based startup, has been trying to figure a way to automatically load and unload baggage into or from airplane cargo holds – and has come up with a system called Cargo Cobra, which is kitted out with artificial intelligence and robotics.\n\nDominik Braun, its CEO, says: “My goal is to not have people climb inside the cargo hold anymore. It’s very hard on the body.”\n\nResearch in the US and Europe has shown that the airport sector’s injury rate is 5.1 per cent, three times the baseline. And baggage handling accounts for 55 per cent of all back injuries among airline employees.\n\n“The other goal is (for the automated system) to be at least faster than humans. I think we could eventually be around 20 per cent faster, but another important aspect is it may help solve the manpower shortage in this sector,” he adds.\n\n## Put your back out of it\n\nBraun founded Antomation in 2022, with help and investment from technology startup builder Atum Ventures, as well as seed money from angel investors.\n\nThe 39-year-old German is a mechanical engineer by training; his past experience includes building automated production lines for major German car companies.\n\nSEE ALSO\n\nBraun says the company is committed to developing dedicated systems rather than off-the-shelf solutions.\n\n“We see a problem and develop a full-stack system: hardware, software, AI – whatever is needed to solve the problem.”\n\nBesides Cargo Cobra, the company’s other projects include using AI to help detect blockages within heat exchangers for a major company engaged in aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.\n\nAntomation took part in the Aerospace Open Innovation Challenge 2024, jointly organised by Enterprise Singapore and JTC Corporation. Aircraft maker Airbus had tossed out a challenge to develop an automated baggage hold loading/unloading system, and Antomation won with its proposal.\n\nThis year, the startup secured from Enterprise Singapore a S$400,000 Startup SG Tech grant, designed to support early-stage companies that leverage proprietary technology and have scalable business models.\n\nWhile baggage is transported by conveyor belts and ground vehicles, the actual loading and unloading of baggage into or from an aircraft’s hold is still an entirely manual process.\n\nIt is hard work, made more challenging by the facts that it must be done in all weather conditions, and that aircraft cargo bays are deep but have narrow openings.\n\nCargo Cobra overcomes these problems with conventional conveyor belts, but it is a more compact, variable-length delivery system that uses specially shaped rollers to move baggage into the cargo hold.\n\nBraun, who is seeking a patent on the system, says: “The issue with conveyor belts is you cannot really extend their lengths. They’re fixed. So we started thinking: How can we build something that can be extended, and at the same time, transport luggage?”\n\nCargo Cobra has a helix-shaped mechanism with embedded rollers, and its sinuous motion, reminiscent of the movement of a snake, moves the baggage. The mechanism also has segments that can telescope into each other, making its length variable as the hold fills up.\n\nJust as your eyes identify Tetris pieces, cameras and other sensors – using machine vision – detect the location, size and shape of the bags. The AI decides how to load it, then a combination of powerful suction devices and robotic limbs manipulate the baggage into place.\n\n## Mover and snakers\n\nWith the grant, Braun expects a working prototype to be ready within a year – a relatively short timeline, as technology has helped accelerate the development process.\n\nA self-confessed tinkerer, he has been experimenting with electronics and software from a young age: “I can pretty much do everything, but now I get help, wherever needed, from technology.\n\n“I think a decade ago, I would not have committed to such a narrow timeline, but nowadays, you have technology like 3D printing, so prototyping goes much faster, and AI helps you be 10 times quicker than you were before.”\n\nAs he was speaking to *The Business Times* in Antomation’s premises in an Ang Mo Kio flatted factory, the space was filled with a musical whirr of multiple 3D printers, which were producing test parts for the robotic arms for the Cargo Cobra system.\n\nAI simplified the coding for the system. Braun says: “For example, a small electronic control box would have taken me maybe five, six hours to program before. Now, with AI, it’s a five-minute job.”\n\nThis is what has kept Antomation lean; it now has only two engineers in Singapore and three overseas.\n\nCargo Cobra’s design has not been finalised and could incorporate more of the latest technology, such as from robotic limbs and manipulators.\n\nLess expensive, human-style robot limbs and hands for example, have become available in the past year or so, and he hopes to incorporate them into the system, to give it the muscle to lift objects of up to 100 kg.\n\nAside from being as efficient as human baggage handlers, Cargo Cobra could also help solve manpower shortages in the sector.\n\nDuring aviation’s massive slowdown during the pandemic, many people – especially those in labour intensive roles – left or lost jobs in the aviation industry. Many did not return even after the sector reopened.\n\nGlobally, aviation is forecast to continue growing for the next few decades, with the Asia-Pacific leading the way. Fortune Business Insights reported that the world’s airport baggage handling system market is expected to grow into a US$18.5 billion market in 2034, from US$9.7 billion now.\n\nBut labour shortages could hinder that growth, and automating baggage handling could help airports and airlines slash costs and improve efficiency, which is of great value in a speed-driven industry like aviation.\n\nBraun says: “The goal is to reduce the manpower count, other than to speed up operations. Our customers find it hard to recruit people for this job. It’s a global problem. So if we solve it correctly, whoever invests in us now is going to be very happy.”\n\nDecoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.\n\nCopyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-singapore-startup-wants-to-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-with-a-snake-like", "canonical_source": "https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/singapore/singapore-startup-wants-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-snake-ai-powered-system", "published_at": "2026-07-29 04:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-29 04:24:31.139711+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["robotics", "computer-vision", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Antomation", "Cargo Cobra", "Dominik Braun", "Enterprise Singapore", "JTC Corporation", "Airbus", "Atum Ventures"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-singapore-startup-wants-to-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-with-a-snake-like", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-singapore-startup-wants-to-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-with-a-snake-like.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-singapore-startup-wants-to-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-with-a-snake-like.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/this-singapore-startup-wants-to-solve-airplane-baggage-tetris-with-a-snake-like.jsonld"}}