SINGAPORE - An emergency preparedness exercise will be carried out at Ang Mo Kio MRT station on Dec 9, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and public transport operator SMRT said on Monday (Nov 25).

During the exercise between 10am and 4pm, commuters should factor additional travel time for security screenings, which will involve some of them being asked to walk through a metal detector and have their belongings scanned by X-ray machines.

Two types of security robots - the OB1FORC3 and K3NOBI - equipped with intelligent surveillance cameras, sensors and video analytic capabilities, will be tested during the exercise at Ang Mo Kio to help detect suspicious persons and unattended items.

The robots, developed in Singapore by local security company Oneberry Technologies, have been deployed previously at other events in Singapore.

The exercise, dubbed Exercise Station Guard, is part of the national SGSecure movement to strengthen security in public places and build community resilience against security threats.

The exercise has been conducted since February 2018 at various MRT stations to test and validate security measures, contingency plans and operational readiness at public transport nodes during heightened security situations.

Similar exercises have been previously conducted at MRT stations at Newton, Holland Village, Hougang, Jurong East and HarbourFront.

The LTA and SMRT said on Monday that beyond ensuring operational readiness, Exercise Station Guard also serves to "raise public awareness of the security threats which Singapore faces and familiarise commuters with how they should respond in the event of an emergency on the public transport network".