Claire chatted to Rika Antonova from the University of Cambridge about using artificial intelligence to develop complimentary robot hardware and algorithms.

Rika Antonova is an Associate Professor at the University of Cambridge. Her research interests include co-design, automated algorithm discovery, data-efficient reinforcement learning, exploration, active learning, and​ robotics. After completing a research Master's degree at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and a PhD at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Rika undertook a Computing Innovation Fellowship at Stanford University. Before that, she was a senior software engineer at Google.

This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.

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Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/

Claire chatted to Kushant Patel from Brookhaven National Laboratory about robots that work in scientific facilities, such as particle accelerators.

Kushant Patel builds software that helps robots and instruments perceive, map, and move through the physical world. After completing a Master's in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo, he spent two years at the University of California, Berkeley teaching quadruped robots to map and inspect nuclear material, and a year at the University of California, Davis building closed-loop brain-computer interfaces. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, he is developing control systems for advanced synchrotron beamlines.

This episode is powered by the Advanced Research + Invention Agency's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to transform robotic capabilities and unlock a step-change in human productivity.

Support Robot Talk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher

Find out more about ARIA: https://aria.org.uk/

Last month, Claire hosted a panel discussion at AUV 2026 exploring how progress in marine autonomy resonates with different audiences, from engineers who are developing the technology, to the end users in science, industry and defence, and the young people who will become the next generation of engineers. She was joined by five panellists: Gwyn Griffiths, Daniel Hook, Emma Curtis, Sara Aldhaheri, and Edith-Clare Hall.

This bonus episode is brought to you by the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society and the AUV Southampton organising committee, in partnership with Cellula Robotics and Sonardyne International.

Get access to the full catalogue of bonus episodes by becoming a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ClaireAsher