Robot Dexterity
Backed by £88.5m, this programme sits within the Adaptive Machines opportunity space and aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step change in human productivity.
Funding: Standards and benchmarks for dexterous robotics – Request for Proposal
Submit your application by 01 December 2026 (13:00 GMT)
Progress in robot dexterity will be easier if developers can combine technologies from different sources, assess what they can do, and build on one another’s work. This call supports practical efforts to remove shared barriers to progress across the field.
We are inviting proposals to develop benchmarks, standards, interfaces, or other shared capabilities that make it easier to develop and deploy dexterous robots. Standards for tactile sense data are a particular priority. The call also welcomes wider work on benchmarking, standardisation, and interoperability across dexterous robotics and manipulation, including performance evaluation, hardware and software interoperability, and shared testing and adoption infrastructure. International adoption is central to our ambition. We want outputs the wider robotics community helps shape and goes on to use, with benefits extending well beyond the UK.
What we’re looking for
We are seeking proposals that address a clearly defined barrier affecting multiple developers or users of dexterous robotic systems. Proposals may focus on one area or combine several. Successful projects will define the problem with the developers and users affected by it, deliver practical, reusable outputs with measurable success criteria, validate their work across independently developed technologies and test sites, and demonstrate a credible route to international adoption, engaging established standards bodies where appropriate. A standalone product or research advance with no credible wider use would not meet the purpose of this call.
Applications will be stronger where they bring together a broad range of organisations, including overseas partners and influential developers, manufacturers, research groups, end users, test facilities, or standards organisations. Applicants may build on previous work, including work funded by ARIA, but prior involvement in ARIA-funded work is not required.
How to apply
Proposals should be submitted through ARIA’s application portal as a PDF of no more than five pages, plus references.
Read the Request for Proposal for the full scope, selection criteria, and submission requirements.
Proposal submission deadline: 01 December 2026 (13:00 GMT)
Notification of selection for discussions: 09 December 2026 2026
Target contract start date: 01 February 2026
Resources
Clarification questions
If you have any additional questions, please use the chat function on this page for the quickest response – you'll find the icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. It can guide you to the right information or connect you with the ARIA team if needed. We’ll update this page with questions and answers.
Nb: Clarification questions that need to be reviewed by the ARIA team should be submitted via the chat function no later 24 November 2026. Clarification questions received after this date will not be reviewed.
The projects we have funded were selected from teams and individuals who applied to our previous funding calls for this programme. You can read more about these archived calls below.
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