Robot Talk Ep.166: co-evolving robot bodies and brains with Rika Antonova

contactrika · x · 2026-10-22

Robot Talk Podcast Episode 166, "Evolving robot bodies and brains," is out: host Claire Asher interviews Cambridge Associate Professor Rika Antonova on using AI to co-design complementary robot hardware and algorithms, covering manipulation, grippers, dexterity and automated algorithm discovery.

The main interview starts at 4:16 and runs about 21 minutes. Antonova's research spans co-design, data-efficient RL, exploration and active learning; she studied at CMU, KTH and Stanford and previously worked at Google. The episode is powered by ARIA's Robot Dexterity programme, which aims to unlock a step-change in robotic capability.

Related event: Cambridge researcher discusses robot hardware-software co-design(2 posts)→

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