Ting Yit poses with the Validation Robot System Setup

At Silicon Labs’ Singapore office, a 65cm-high Integrated Circuit (IC) handler robot system scans semiconductor chips to ensure they are correctly positioned. Every now and again, the Valbot – short for validation robot – stretches out to realign one that is not. Using a combination of computer vision and Artificial Intelligence, it works around the clock, freeing up engineers for more complex tasks.

Credit for this 2018 industry breakthrough goes to Wee Ting Yit, then a 24-year-old intern in his 4th year at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He worked on the initial design during his three-month internship, and took the project to completion when he returned to the company after graduating with a B.EngSc.

Disruptor at work: Ting Yit loves having the freedom to challenge the status quo at Silicon Labs Singapore

“The robotic system is low-cost and low-risk, plus it saves time and reduces manpower, so engineers can spend their time doing other, more challenging work,” says the now 28-year-old, who is a Design Engineer with the company. 

Silicon Labs has since filed a patent for the prototype, and today, has 10 Valbots in Singapore, with additional Valbots installed at its Oslo and Austin sites. Soon, another will be installed at the company’s Hyderabad site.

The idea for a validation robot system came from his supervisor, Ting Yit says, confessing that it was not an easy task, spanning complex mechanical, image recognition, machine-learning and advanced software programming domains. It took more than a year of experimenting – and plenty of guidance from his mentors – before the idea came to life.

In May 2019, the Valbot was presented at Silicon Labs’ Technical Symposium in Austin, Texas, winning the Best New College Graduate (NCG) Paper Award. After a few months of trials and tweaks, it was put to work at the company’s Validation Lab in June 2020. It came especially useful during the Covid-19 pandemic’s lockdowns, when many were forced to work from home.

“I was happy to see it being used and proud that it was helping to solve a problem,” he says. 

Picture perfect: The Valbot takes a picture of a chip it holds to calibrate and check it, and will then proceed to place the chip and close the socket lid

A disruptor who has always loved problem solving, Ting Yit designed a water chlorination system for an orphanage during a volunteer stint in Indonesia while in his first year at NTU. Although his design was not used, it deepened his fascination with engineering. While at NTU, Ting Yit was also part of the Maker’s Movement, a collective for student designers and engineers.

His love for innovation makes him a natural fit for the ever-evolving semiconductor industry, he says, since it is one in which fresh ideas are always welcomed.

Bot in motion: The Valbot fetches a chip from the chip tray

Engineering is an art,” he explains. “The way you hone your craft is to keep building on your skills and knowledge, and continuously question how you can make things easier. And with new software tools always becoming available, there are rarely limits to this.”

That, he says, is for him the most rewarding part about working in the semiconductor field. “You are constantly challenged to disrupt the status quo. In fact, you’re given free rein to do so. And if you fail, it doesn’t matter because you can always try again the next day.

“It’s empowering knowing that you have the space and support to pursue new ideas.”