CGH launches robotics centre to help develop new healthcare solutions

PRESIDENT Tony Tan Keng Yam on Thursday officially opened the Centre for Healthcare Assistive and Robotics Technology (Chart) at Changi General Hospital (CGH).

Spearheaded by CGH and supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board, Chart is believed to be the first-of-its-kind collaborative platform in Singapore that will enable healthcare professionals to work closely with academia, industry and research institutions to develop healthcare solutions based on robotics and assistive technologies.

These solutions will be in five key domains: developing virtual hospitals; transforming aged care; optimising rehabilitation; automating processes; and enhancing medical training.

Chart comes with a design lab - for ideation and collaboration - and a living lab, comprising mock-up wards, clinics and minor surgery rooms for prototyping. On a national level, Chart will serve as a shared platform to engage various healthcare clusters and aged-care providers to design new healthcare solutions. It will also become a launch pad for the National Robotics Programme, a multi-agency initiative that manages the end-to-end development of robotics technologies.

Among CGH's partners for Chart are Hope Technik, a homegrown engineering firm whose Sesto Automated Guided Vehicles will assist hospital staff in moving materials around; and Nanyang Technological University, whose humanoid robots can entertain patients waiting for their appointments, and even serve as doctors' assistants.