About Us

The National Research Foundation (NRF) Medium Sized Centre for Advanced Robotics Technology Innovation (CARTIN) is a joint research center led by NTU with participation from NUS and ASTAR. The center has two research thrusts: Sentient Autonomy and Collaborative Autonomy, and focuses on developing advanced active perception and navigation, collaborative robotics and robots for humans technologies for applications in logistics, manufacturing, and elderly/health care.

In logistics, the focus will be on automated guided vehicle (AGV) navigation in container seaports for which state-of-the-art AGV localization and navigation relies on magnetic tracks laid on the ground which is inflexible and costly in installation and maintenance. We aim to develop free range AGV localization and navigation technologies which are being well sought by port operators. In manufacturing, we shall develop safe and efficient cobot technologies to transform the relevant industry in Singapore in collaborations with ARTC and SIMTech and industry R&D partners. The applications include collaborative assembly, transport, pick and place, lab automation, etc. In Robots for Humans, we will design, develop and test solutions for embedding robots for elderly care at home and communities.

Drawing on the triple helix model of innovation, CARTIN will tap on government support to consolidate the strengths of robotics research entities to build up a comprehensive ecosystem in Singapore consisting of leading companies, service providers and government agencies. It aims to create a framework for close collaboration among research performers in NTU, NUS, and A*STAR RIs, and industry partners from the onset, to provide a seamless transition from basic research to translation and deployment.

CARTIN NUS website can be found here.

Research Focus

CARTIN focuses on developing collaborative and human-centric robotics and autonomous systems technologies for applications in future logistics, services and manufacturing.