At the world-renowned Gardens by the Bay Supertree Grove, the Singapore National Parks Board has introduced the XG18S, a small excavator specifically designed for vertical gardens, for maintenance work on the 50-meter-high vertical gardens. Facing a 25-story vertical green wall and a delicate ecosystem with over 200 plant species per square meter, traditional aerial work platforms could not meet the demands of precise maintenance.
“We needed equipment that could operate stably on a high-altitude platform and perform minimally invasive pruning,” said senior horticulturist Chen Meiling on the 18th-floor observation deck. “The XG18S’s gyroscope stabilization system allows for millimeter-level precision even in strong winds at high altitudes, and its microscopic camera can identify the health of individual plants. Most notably, its ‘aerosol delivery system’ can precisely spray nutrient solutions without affecting visitors.”
This equipment, developed specifically for vertical greening, has overcome several technical bottlenecks: a three-axis stable platform that can operate normally in winds up to force 8, a microscopic vision system that can identify pests and diseases at the 0.1-millimeter level, and a bionic robotic arm that can simulate manual pruning movements. In a recent comprehensive maintenance of the Supertrees, the equipment increased the efficiency of high-altitude work by five times, improved plant health by 30%, and allowed for simultaneous visitor access and maintenance operations.
The Singapore Housing and Development Board has incorporated this technology into its “2030 Smart City Landscape Planning,” and garden projects in Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries have initiated technical consultations. Xiaogang Southeast Asia is collaborating with the Singapore Institute of Technology to develop an urban vertical farming system based on this platform, with the first batch of equipment to be used in vertical farm projects in Hong Kong and Dubai.
