ARIA Robot Dexterity Programme

ARIA Robot Dexterity Programme sits under the Advanced Research and Invention Agency's Smarter Robot Bodies opportunity space and funds robotics dexterous manipulation. The programme is led by Jenny Read and is positioned as a focused R&D route for teams working on the physical skill of robot hands, grippers, and manipulation systems. Grants run from about £250,000 to £4 million, with a median award of £1.2 million. The call is annual, the TRL range is 2 to 5, and eligibility is restricted to for-profit R&D performers from the UK and international community that can fit a UK research context. Non-profits and individuals are excluded, no match funding is required, and applicants must not be in the same solicitation twice. The strongest submissions will be concrete about manipulation performance, hardware constraints, and evaluation. ARIA's bar here is not a general robotics concept but a serious step toward hands that can do useful work, so applicants need a tight technical plan, a plausible experimental setup, and a clear definition of what counts as dexterity progress.

No upcoming rounds verified. Cadence: Annual.