Robot Dexterity

Description

ARIA is an R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. We empower scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of what is technologically or scientifically possible. We reach across disciplines, sectors and institutions to shape, fund and manage projects across the R&D ecosystem, from startups to universities, to break down silos and discover new pathways. We're looking for proposals for our Robot Dexterity programme, for more information see here https://www.aria.org.uk/robot-dexterity/ Lot 1: Why this programme Breakthroughs in AI are transforming robotic abilities, but compared to staggering advances in computation, the development of robot bodies has stalled in recent decades. Today, robots cannot achieve the flexibility, speed and precision of human manipulation, rendering them useless for many of the difficult or dangerous tasks where we need them most.The need to improve robot dexterity comes at a critical time. The proportion of the world's population aged 65+ is set to triple by 2100, while labour deficits for physically demanding work are set to increase.Robots have the potential to ease these labour shortages and boost prosperity - advanced robotics with dexterous manipulation could add an estimated 4% to global productivity - but to do so we must close the gap between what robots and humans can handle. What we're shooting for Just as biological bodies and nervous systems evolved together, this programme will aim to exploit advanced simulation to learn the optimal design for a robot body at the same time as optimal control. Our goal: to release the bottlenecks in robotic dexterity, demonstrating a paradigm-shift in robotic abilities and creating vastly more capable and useful machines. For more information, see here https://www.aria.org.uk/robot-dexterity/