National University of Singapore: Creating an AI-Powered Campus Retail Experience with Pick&GO

Customer Requirements

A university campus is a high-frequency living and learning environment.

Students move between lectures, libraries, laboratories, residences, sports facilities, and social spaces throughout the day. Staff and visitors also need convenient access to food, drinks, snacks, and daily essentials without leaving the campus or spending too much time in line.

At the National University of Singapore, the Pick&GO AI-powered store was designed to bring a faster, smarter, and more flexible retail experience into campus life.

Traditional campus retail often faces several challenges. Store hours may not fully match student routines. Checkout lines can form during class breaks, lunch hours, and late-evening study periods. Vending machines may be convenient, but they usually offer limited product variety and a less natural shopping experience.

The project needed to address several key needs:

1. Faster daily convenience
   Students and staff need quick access to snacks, drinks, instant food, and daily essentials between classes and meetings.
2. Flexible service hours
   Campus demand is not limited to standard retail hours. A smarter store model can support longer availability with less dependence on cashier staffing.
3. Compact campus deployment
   University spaces are valuable. The store needed to fit into a compact footprint while still offering a broad product selection.
4. Low-friction shopping experience
   The process should be easy to understand: download the app, scan to enter, shop, exit to pay, and view the receipt.
5. A visible smart campus showcase
   The store needed to demonstrate how AI, digital payment, and automated retail can improve everyday campus services.

To meet these goals, the Pick&GO unmanned store introduced an AI-powered Grab & Go shopping model supported by Cloudpick technology.

Cloudpick Solution

Cloudpick provided the AI unmanned retail technology behind the Pick&GO store, combining computer vision, smart sensing, access control, automated checkout, and real-time backend management.

The customer journey is designed to be simple and intuitive:

Download the app
Users download the Pick&GO app and complete the required setup.

Scan to enter
Customers scan at the entrance gate to access the store.

Shop freely
Inside the store, customers can browse open shelves and select products such as instant noodles, snacks, beverages, packaged food, and daily essentials.

Exit to pay
After choosing the products they need, customers leave through the exit gate.

View receipt
The system automatically recognizes the selected products, completes settlement, and generates the receipt.

This transforms the campus store experience into a true Grab & Go journey.

Compared with vending machines, the Pick&GO store offers more product variety and a more natural browsing experience. Compared with traditional convenience stores, it reduces checkout friction and helps customers complete small purchases faster.

The store design also creates a strong technology impression. The “AI-Powered Retail Therapy” visual wall, bright orange entrance, clear step-by-step guidance, and open-shelf layout make the experience easy to understand while reinforcing the smart campus atmosphere.

For operators, Cloudpick’s backend system supports digital store management. Product movement, sales data, and inventory changes can be recorded automatically, helping improve replenishment, category planning, and daily operations.

Video

To see the National University of Singapore Pick&GO AI unmanned store in action, watch the video below:

YouTube:
https://youtu.be/g322Se4Ddac?si=EWMClwTVgOlIgLlI

Result

The Pick&GO AI-powered store at the National University of Singapore demonstrates how unmanned retail can become part of modern campus infrastructure.

For students and staff, the value is immediate. They can quickly enter, pick what they need, and continue their day without waiting in a traditional checkout line. Whether it is a quick snack before class, instant food during a study break, or a drink after activities, the store provides convenient access at the right moment.

For campus operators, the benefits are broader:

1. Faster campus retail service
   The Grab & Go model helps reduce checkout waiting time during busy class breaks and peak campus hours.
2. Longer service availability
   The unmanned model supports more flexible operating hours with less dependence on continuous cashier staffing.
3. Better product variety than vending machines
   Open shelves allow a wider assortment of snacks, drinks, instant food, and daily essentials.
4. Efficient use of campus space
   A compact AI store can be deployed in student centers, libraries, residence halls, academic buildings, and other high-traffic areas.
5. Real-time digital operation
   Transaction and inventory data can be recorded automatically, helping operators improve replenishment and product selection.
6. A smart campus demonstration
   The store gives students and visitors a direct experience of AI-powered retail in everyday life.

Most importantly, the project shows that smart campus innovation does not have to stay inside laboratories or lecture halls. It can appear in the small everyday moments where people need convenience, speed, and flexibility.

By working with Cloudpick, Pick&GO brings a practical AI-powered retail model to the National University of Singapore, turning campus convenience into a faster, smarter, and more digital experience.

Customer Testimonial

A representative from the project said:

“Campus retail needs to be fast, flexible, and easy for students to use. With Cloudpick’s AI-powered Grab & Go technology, the Pick&GO store provides a smoother shopping experience while helping operators manage products, transactions, and inventory more efficiently. This project offers a practical reference for future smart campus retail.”