Clarification questions
If you have questions related to Robot Dexterity, please reach out to clarifications@aria.org.uk.
We’ll update this page twice a week with answers.
Nb: clarification questions should be submitted no later than 4 days prior to the relevant deadline date. Clarification questions received after this date will not be reviewed.
What counts as a robot?
For the purposes of this programme and opportunity space, “robot” means any engineered device or machine with complex computational, perceptual and sensory capabilities, plus complex capabilities for autonomously acting on the physical world. We do not place any requirements on the materials or technologies used for a robot.
What is in scope?
Based on the range of concept papers received at Stage 1, at Stage 2 we are now focusing on highly dexterous, human-scale applications in manufacturing/assembly (including food), lab automation, and waste/recycling/disassembly. As before, generally useful components and computational techniques remain in scope, but now only if these offer a realistic prospect of advancing robotics in these areas.
This does not reflect any judgment about the value of the areas we are now defining as out of scope, simply our assessment of how we could best form a focused, coherent robotics dexterity programme given the concept papers submitted to us.
Are molecules in scope?
No.
Are non-autonomous devices in scope?
No.
Are exoskeletons in scope?
No.
Are prostheses in scope?
No.
Are nuclear, space, marine, surgery, human/robot interaction, healthcare, clinical/social care in scope?
No (except for non patient-facing tasks such as lab automation within healthcare).
What do you mean by dexterity? Is this different from manipulation?
We are not making any meaningful distinction between dexterity and manipulation. In our usage, both refer to skilful, precise manipulation of specific objects, usually with a high degree of flexibility. This will usually be through physical contact, but we do not require this. Flexibility is key. Humans display dexterity when they knit or sew manually, but a knitting or sewing machine does not display dexterity in the sense intended by the programme. Rather, these are machines designed to remove the need for dexterity on one specific task.
The Programme Director will determine the level of skill, precision and flexibility required to count as “dexterity”. This will depend on the situation and task, but will require a clear advance over the state of the art along some axis (not necessarily performance alone, but also reliability, cost, sustainability and anything else where a case can be made for societal benefit). The above comments on scope of course apply.
You exclude defence/military. Does this include things like private security, police, border patrol, security services?
Yes, work that is specifically for such use-cases is out of scope.
What about upstream manufacturing and supply chain logistics for defence and military? What about military healthcare?
We recognise that a dexterous robot that could help with civilian manufacturing, logistics and healthcare could necessarily also assist with these tasks in defence/military contexts, but we will not fund any tests or field trials in these contexts.