Robot Locomotion
Backed by £60m, this programme sits within the Adaptive Machines opportunity space and seeks to create robot bodies with new forms of locomotion that can operate beyond the limits of today’s machines, such as carrying loads across rough terrain or inspecting hard-to-reach infrastructure.
Our goal
Robots can already navigate warehouses, fly, and perform impressive athletic feats. But they still struggle to move through complex environments. Wheels fail on rubble, mud, stairs, and uneven ground. Drones face limits on range and payload. Legged robots show remarkable agility, but cannot yet operate reliably for long periods beyond controlled environments such as warehouses.
We are seeking to change this by building more capable robot bodies with new forms of locomotion. Our aim is to revolutionise how robots move, not to make incremental improvements to existing designs.
More capable robot locomotion could transform how physical work is carried out, helping address labour shortages and reducing the need for humans to work in dangerous or physically demanding environments.
The challenge is not simply better robot software. The next generation of robots requires smarter physical design: bodies that adapt to difficult terrain, absorb impacts, use energy efficiently, and recover from failure in unpredictable environments.
We want to support teams rethinking robot locomotion from the ground up, from the foundational physical technologies that future robots will be built on to integrated robot bodies that solve real operational problems and have clear routes to commercialisation.
The first version of the programme thesis linked below set out our early thinking behind this programme. Since then, the programme has broadened into four Technical Areas, described on this page below.
Technical areas
The programme is split into four Technical Areas (TAs), each with its own distinct objective:
Integrated Robot Bodies
Focuses on building robot bodies that can move through the world in new ways, each designed for a specific use case and tested in an independently assessed end-of-programme challenge.
Foundational Technologies
Focuses on novel components, materials, and body architectures with the potential to transform how and where robots move.
Shared Prosperity
Explores the societal implications of the technologies developed in this programme.
Field Testing and Assessment
Focuses on independent field testing and assessment of TA1 robot bodies, including running the end-of-programme challenge.
Funding now open: TA1 and TA2
The programme has launched its first funding call, seeking radically new approaches to robot hardware that can unlock order-of-magnitude improvements in how robots move and the environments they can operate in.
We are now inviting concept papers for the first two Technical Areas of the programme. TA1, Integrated Robot Bodies, will fund teams to build robot bodies for valuable use cases, including the hardware they depend on, and demonstrate them in an independently assessed real-world challenge. TA2, Foundational Technologies, will fund earlier-stage physical technologies and body architectures with the potential to transform locomotion.
Concept paper deadline: 4 December 2026 (14:00 GMT)
Full proposals open on 15 Dec 2026
Meet the programme team
Our Programme Directors are supported by a core team that provides a blend of operational coordination and highly specialised technical expertise.
Jenny Read
Programme Director
Originally trained in theoretical astrophysics, Jenny Read spent many years in computational visual neuroscience and joined ARIA from her role as Professor of Vision Science at Newcastle University. Her programmes aim to create the next generation of robot hardware – smarter robot bodies enabled by novel actuation and sensing, and by new approaches to design.
Celia Choimet
Programme Specialist
Celia has an international background in consulting and research management. Before joining ARIA, she spent years in Singapore facilitating the development of international research partnerships between a major French research agency and ASEAN countries, while also coordinating a large-scale Franco-Singaporean initiative focused on Hybrid AI. Celia supports ARIA as an Operating Partner from Pace.
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