🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

NTU corporate labs run at S$45–66 million with multi-year timelines

• The Schaeffler-NTU Corporate Lab at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is S$49 million (Singapore dollars) 1, comparable to Delta Electronics’ S$45 million lab 1 and NTI at S$66 million 1.
• SHARE@NTU, the Schaeffler Hub for Advanced Research at NTU, ran for three years in 2017 with 10–15 researchers and 10 PhD students 2. Rolls-Royce@NTU, run by Rolls-Royce the aerospace engineering company, finished a first five-year phase then moved to Phase 2 3.
• Continental-NTU lab, run with Continental the automotive supplier, supports 16 industry projects 1. Labs at this funding level run several streams in parallel.
• Since 2017, the Schaeffler-NTU team built real-time touch plus force visualization for robots, and a universal soft gripper for manufacturing.

Safety vendors can target cobot (collaborative robot) adopters with ISO 10218 and TS 15066 services

• Singapore treats SS ISO 10218, the Singapore Standard adoption of ISO 10218, as an Approved Code of Practice via the Workplace Safety and Health Council (WSHC) 4. That gives teams across manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare a clear reference for collaborative robot deployments.
• Training providers like Nanyang Polytechnic, A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), and Pilz offer courses on ISO 10218 plus ISO/TS 15066 4. Demand for safety expertise is growing as humanoid and cobot use expands.
• Safety PLCs (programmable logic controllers) meeting IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 61508 plus ISO 13849 5 are in scope. LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors with Performance Level d (PLd) under ISO 13849 5 also fit, which lets consultancies and systems integrators bundle them into turnkey safety assessment offerings.
• Risk assessment guidance under ISO/TS 15066 for collaborative applications 5 creates recurring service opportunities as facilities modify robot tasks or add new collaborative zones.