Singapore Companies Launch Joint Robotics Lab

Defense News

10/14/2011

Singapore Companies Launch Joint Robotics Lab

By WENDELL MINNICK

TAIPEI, Taiwan - ST Kinetics (STK), the land-systems component of Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering, and Singapore Polytechnic (SP) announced the launch of the SP-STK Robotics Laboratory on Oct. 14.

The new lab was created to develop infrastructure-based indoor and outdoor navigation technologies for Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) applications from the research and design stages to test bedding and commercialization.

"ST Kinetics brings to this collaboration its core strengths in vehicle development and 10 years of experience in developing Unmanned Ground Vehicles for military application," said an ST Engineering press release.

The lab will develop three different types of infrastructure-based navigation solutions: radio frequency identification (RFID), light detection and ranging (LIDAR) and vision-based navigation systems.

The RFID component will comprise passive RFID transponders that provide AGVs with localization information. The RFID systems are usually implemented outdoors where AGVs operate in different weather conditions.

The LIDAR navigation systems work on the principle of triangulation, where the beams from the LIDARs are reflected off pre-defined markers.

Vision-based navigation systems, which normally operate indoors, utilize cameras mounted on AGVs to follow lanes that have been painted on the ground.

"Through the provision of all three navigation technologies, the SP-STK Laboratory is able to target different customers with both indoor and outdoor solutions that will contribute to productivity and reduce alliance on manual labor," the press release said.