Malaysia-headquartered Sagtec Global Limited (Nasdaq: SAGT) commercially launched its HALO AI food-serving robot on August 18, 2026, and simultaneously booked a US$3 million purchase order for 1,500 units from Dubai-based distributor SMD Tech-FZCO. It is the first at-scale deployment of Sagtec’s AI-assist robotics platform and its formal move from software vendor into AI-enabled physical automation.
From AI Software To A Deployable Restaurant Robot
Sagtec introduced its AI-assist robotics platform in 2025 with the goal of pairing autonomous robotic mobility with its existing restaurant software stack — the Speed+ smart ordering platform already serves more than 12,000 clients. HALO AI is the productised version: a wheeled service robot for restaurant, hospitality and high-volume food service environments that handles food and beverage delivery, customer touchpoints and other front-of-house work while integrating with existing ordering and POS systems.
“HALO AI represents the commercialization of our robotics strategy,” said Sagtec Chairman and CEO Ng Chen Lok. “We have moved from developing an AI robotics platform to deploying a standardized product at meaningful scale.”
Dubai Becomes The GCC Beachhead
The 1,500 HALO AI units will be shipped through SMD Tech-FZCO into restaurants and hospitality venues across the Middle East, forming what Sagtec is calling an initial installed base for future software, service and maintenance revenue. The company plans to use Dubai as a regional reference site as it evaluates additional distributor agreements across the Gulf Cooperation Council.
A Repeatable Distribution Model
Sagtec is layering AI and robotics software licensing, subscription services, integration, maintenance and analytics on top of the hardware sale, chasing the higher-margin recurring revenue that has eluded most restaurant-robot vendors. “The first 1,500 units are an important starting point,” Ng added. “Our objective is to build a global AI robotics business around HALO AI and subsequent generations of intelligent robotic products.”
The launch lands as service and hospitality robotics see fresh deal momentum. In the past two weeks alone, Robot.com and Sodexo signed a seven-year campus delivery deal, SUPCON and Certis tied up on security robotics in Singapore, and Sagtec joined that queue with the first meaningful Middle East order for a food-serving robot brand.
Reporting based on coverage from GlobeNewswire, The Manila Times and Sahm Capital.