A hi-tech flex!

A look at an in-house real-time video analytics solution by Q Team. (Photo: HTX)

The Q Team Centre of Expertise (CoE) reinforced how HTX is constantly pursuing cutting-edge innovations to empower Home Team operations, by hosting the Q Tech Connect showcase at HTX headquarters, which ran from 4-5 March 2025.

Featuring over 30 exhibits, the event allowed more than 200 guests from various Home Team Departments (HTDs) to better understand how the Q Team’s technological solutions, including artificial intelligence innovations and hi-tech gadgets, could support their work in public safety and security.

The solutions on show included intelligence analytics, advanced threat detection and response, operational intelligence and anonymous systems, multimodal AI, immersive and interactive technologies, as well as agentic AI and AI-powered decision support.

In his keynote address, Q Team Director Dr Ng Gee Wah explained the focus and importance of each of the four sections within the Q Team.

The Q1 section, he said, focuses on developing solutions in the anti-scam and cyber space, leveraging their agentic and multimodal AI technology to detect scams in websites, news, social media and even the dark web.

Q2 works on small tactical robotics and its latest developments include real-time 3D mapping tech that uses inertial management units, stereo cameras (with or without lidar), robots equipped with small multimodal models that enable generative AI capability for sensemaking, and small aerial and ground hybrid robots.

Q3 looks into real-time and on-demand technology for security uses and explores ways to augment devices such as body-worn cameras (BWC), smartphones, or unmanned aerial or ground vehicle cameras with tech.

Q4, the newly-formed AI research and development group, is responsible for building HTX’s very own Large Language Models (LLMs) and multimodal AI models. These models include the Home Team’s very own LLMs, known as “HomeTeam LLAMA”, “HomeTeam Qwen” and an upcoming model with continued pretraining.

Dr Ng Gee Wah welcomes Home Team officers at Q Tech Connect 2025. (Photo: HTX)

“We have exciting things coming up every quarter. We are doing whatever we can to keep up in a space of technology and AI that moves very fast,” said Gee Wah.

Exciting innovations

Among those who attended the event was the director of the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority’s (ICA’s) Operations Tech department Theodore Tan, who shared that the Q Team showcase is something he always looks forward to every year.

“There are many new ideas and prototypes showcased that are useful and on-point with regard to use cases that the Home Team is looking at,” said Theodore. “We are excited to share with our colleagues what we’ve seen today and see how these could possibly be deployed in our work.”

This sentiment was echoed by another Home Team attendee, LTC Seloterio Euan Izmal, Deputy Commander of Singapore Civil Defence Force’s Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SCDF DART).

“Today’s showcase has been insightful and inspiring. We look forward to more exciting collaborations with HTX and harnessing new technologies and innovations to enhance SCDF’s operational response capabilities,” he said.

Rachel Lim, an intern from Q1, shares how WALDO could play an essential role in supporting missing person cases by combining multiple open-source intelligence (OSINT) techniques with an investigative agent to aggregate and analyse online information related to the subject. (Photo: HTX)

An engineer from Q2 presents HybridX, a small hybrid robot that can not only roll on the ground but also lift off into the air. HybridX can be used for surveying and reconnaissance purposes as it can be fitted with sensors and cameras and deployed in environments deemed too dangerous for frontliners. (Photo: HTX)

Lin Zixing, an engineer from Q3, leads a live demo on Agentic AI, which can perform perception, decision-making and action tasks. (Photo: HTX)

In the same demo, Q3 interns Keith Ang (lying down) and Ahmad Azfar Bin Abdul Hamid demonstrate how the Perception AI agent could be utilised in response to a collapsed person. (Photo: HTX)

J’sen Ong, an intern from Q4, introduces HomeTeam LLAMA to attendees. HomeTeam LLAMA is an in-house LLM with speech capabilities that offers insights on everything related to the Home Team. (Photo: HTX)

Aside from speaking to the LLAMA, attendees also got to try their hand at training the Q Team’s AI model by selecting the best answers to a list of questions.(Photo: HTX)

SCDF’s LTC Euan Izmal tries out DTO’s SenTacX (Sensory Tactile Immersive Experience), which integrates advanced haptic glove feedback to allow users to feel and interact with virtual training environments. SenTacX is also complemented by GenSCIX (Generative Spatial Computing Immersive eXperience), an AI-driven spatial computing technology, which allows users to self-generate realistic 3D incident environments and view them via smart headsets. (Photo: HTX)

A research partner from NTU speaks to Xponents on the progress of their research on LLMs. (Photo: HTX)

Q Team’s research partners from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) were also present to share the progress made in their joint research on LLMs.

The organising committee of Q Tech Connect, spearheaded by engineers Ong Pang Wei, Lin Zixing and Yeo Kiat Nern, said they were delighted to be given the opportunity to organise an event that strengthens HTX’s partnership with the HTDs.

“The challenges were tough, but the results were incredibly rewarding. We can’t wait to see the impact of our future collaborations with the HTDs!” said Pang Wei.