Joint labs geared towards high value manufacturing
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), a research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Engineering is launching two joint research labs in precision motion systems and industrial robotics. This collaboration brings together the local research community to build capabilities and develop technologies to boost productivity and gear up for high value manufacturing in the medtech, aerospace, marine & offshore and precision engineering clusters. The Joint Labs are launched in conjunction with a new A*STAR Industrial Robotics Research programme. This programme brings together researchers from SIMTech, Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), NUS, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and other local and overseas universities and research institutes for multi-disciplinary collaboration. The programme builds on existing robotics capabilities across the local research community, and aims to advance the performance and capability of robotic platforms for industry adoption to improve productivity. The manufacturing industry is a significant pillar of the Singapore economy and contributes close to a quarter of its GDP . In recent years, the industry is facing problems such as increasing labour costs, lack of skilled labour and low productivity. The Joint Labs will develop technologies and capabilities to improve workforce productivity in the medtech, aerospace, marine & offshore and the precision engineering clusters where automation is currently lower compared to automotive and semiconductor manufacturing. The Joint Labs aim to boost automation in such industry clusters, by enhancing the capability, performance, and intelligence of precision machines and robotic systems to allow for higher throughput, higher accuracy, and greater human-machine cooperation on unstructured manufacturing shop-floors. In addition to delivering cutting-edge technologies, the Joint Labs will serve as platforms to nurture R&D manpower for the industry, transforming them into centres of excellence in their respective technical areas to benefit […]