Chair Professorship in Robotics

Robotics is an exciting field with increasing visibility and relevance in public spaces. At Changi Airport, autonomous robots clean the floor according to pre-defined parameters, while some offices deploy autonomous robots to bring guests to meeting rooms.


Since robots can successfully replace or at least reduce the amount of human effort needed in repetitive and labour-intensive tasks, the Singapore University of Technology and Design would like to appoint a Chair Professor in Robotics to take robotics to a higher level of application for the betterment of society.

The benefits of a Chair Professor in Robotics are far-reaching:

• Advancement of research in robotics
  A Chair Professorship in Robotics enables the appointed professor to push the frontier on existing research, so that more research can translate into real-world solutions.

• Enhancement of educational excellence
  Brilliant minds who are interested in the field of robotics will no doubt be attracted to SUTD by the Chair Professorship, thus raising the reputation of the University and its donors. Students and scholars will benefit from the Chair Professor’s expertise and guidance, which serve as a nurturing foundation for future leaders in robotics in the long term. In the short term, graduates will be highly skilled, job-ready, and well-poised to contribute back to the field.

• Deepening of interdisciplinary collaboration
  The field of robotics overlaps with other disciplines such as computer science, medicine, engineering, and even ethics. The Chair Professor is in the best position to facilitate interdisciplinary research and collaboration, harnessing the expertise of the most brilliant minds in various fields to produce innovative solutions that will address complex needs.

• Promotion of ethics in robotics
  The quickly evolving field of robotics prompts scrutiny on the impact of robotics on society, such as the loss of jobs when robots replace human workers and the risks of depending on autonomous systems over long periods of time. The Chair Professor will explore these concerns in-depth and ensure that the advancement of robotics and its applications to society will be aligned with ethical considerations.

A snapshot of Associate Professor Mohan Rajesh Elara

(Potential appointee of the Chair Professorship)

Associate Prof Mohan is an accomplished professor of the Engineering Product Development pillar at SUTD specialising in robotics, with many achievements under his belt.

Currently a Provost’s Chair Professor and Associate Professor, he leads a team of 50 researchers on robotic research, whose research output ranks very highly in the Web of Science. As a robotics researcher himself, his output has exceeded 200 published papers.

Associate Prof Mohan’s interests lie in self-reconfigurable robotics platforms, autonomous systems, and robot ergonomics, which led him to co-found Lionsbot, an autonomous cleaning robot company. Locally, Lionsbot’s autonomous cleaning robots can be seen roaming at Jewel Changi Airport, the Singapore National Art Gallery, train stations, office complexes, and COVID-19 isolation complexes, while globally, they can be found in roughly 20 other countries.

He also co-founded Oceania Robotics, a company for marine and pest-control robots, and led reconfigurable robotics projects support by the National Robotics Programme. A prominent example is the Dragonfly, a mosquito control robot that helps deter dengue.

The number of awards Associate Prof Mohan has received over his academic and engineering career is a testament to his expertise as an educator, researcher, and robotics engineer, including the A’ Design Award, IDA Design Award, SG Mark Design Award, ASEE Best of Design in Engineering Award, and Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award.

Next Steps

Please contact Mr Robin Chua, Director of Advancement and Development, to find out how you can contribute towards this initiative.
Email: robin_chua@sutd.edu.sg