I talk with Jenny Read who is the Programme Director at ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency).

We talk about:
- ARIA's ambitious £50M investment in robotics hardware research
- The need for fundamental breakthroughs in robot hardware and actuation
- How neuroscience insights can inspire better robot design
- Building a research community focused on hardware innovation
- The unique funding approach that encourages high-risk, high-reward projects

You'll like this interview if you're interested in robotics hardware development, research funding initiatives, or the future of robot actuation and control systems.

TRANSCRIPT
- https://audrownashpodcast.com/posts/17-aria/transcript

EPISODE LINKS
- ARIA Website: https://www.aria.org.uk
- ARIA LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/advanced-research-and-invention-agency/
- ARIA Twitter/X: https://x.com/ARIA_Research
- Jenny Read's Website: https://www.jennyreadresearch.com/
- Jenny Read's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-read-813a5ba/
- Jenny Read's Twitter/X: https://x.com/jcaread

TIMECODES
(0:00 ) Start
(0:15 ) Jenny Read & ARIA Overview
(3:49 ) Jenny's ARIA Role
(6:26 ) Robotics Focus
(8:22 ) Hardware Focus Areas
(9:40 ) Gear Ratio Discussion
(11:56 ) Touch Sensing & Robot Fragility
(13:41 ) Body Design & Neural Control
(19:15 ) Career Background & Funding
(22:33 ) Program Focus & Logistics
(27:56 ) The Dexterity Challenge
(33:31 ) ARIA Strategy
(42:59 ) Development Bottlenecks
(45:38 ) Measuring Success
(48:33 ) Key Takeaways
(51:52 ) Outro