Each of the above areas of functional performance require significant advances.

For large scale manipulation applications include but are not limited to manufacturing, assembly, maintenance and installation of large infrastructure; for example wind turbines, energy pylons, pipelines, dwellings, industrial buildings, transport infrastructure etc.)
For small scale manipulation applications include but are not limited to medical and healthcare (human and animal), pharmaceutical and laboratory automation, process industries, materials processing and micro-fabrication and assembly.

Significant enhancement of functional interaction capabilities to deliver efficient, safe and natural interaction with people, objects, with other robots, within complex and dynamic working environments, including the ability to adapt to variation in the working environment and the needs and dynamics of users, objects and structures, etc.).

Making significant next step advances in these functional capabilities will require paradigm shifts in terms of both physical and systems architecture particularly through the removal of silos between disciplines that contribute to robotics functionalities.

Proposals will need to address safety and security aspects at all levels, as well as consider the data life cycle in line with GDPR.

Proposals should aim to address bold and significant challenges to the enhancement of robot functionality and do so by utilising multidisciplinary research activities.

Proposals should address several of the following in the context of improved functional performance relevant to deployment barriers in a high impact sector:

• Robust perception and the integration of sensing into physical structures to enhance motion and perception
• Advanced safe and reliable navigation functionalities, integrating anticipation, re-planning, high-level goal optimisation. Natural human-robot interaction functionality
• Advanced cognitive capabilities, integrating any type of learning (from experience, collaborative intelligence or learning from human knowledge, frugality in terms of data, unsupervised, etc.), modelling, reasoning, introspection, etc.
• Novel design approaches, e.g. soft robotics, under-actuated, miniaturised, modular/reconfigurable robots including those capable of self-reconfiguration, e.g. for guidance/navigation/manipulations in places hard to reach
• Mobile manipulation, natural manipulation of arbitrary objects including soft, fragile or other items complex to handle (e.g. dirty, slippery, deformable)
• Advanced navigation/manipulation in extreme environments, extremely small and precise in the body, autonomous navigation on shifting and uneven surfaces and in transition, for example between water and air or water and land, field robotics in harsh environments, the handling and manipulation of extremely large/heavy objects, etc.

Where relevant, proposals should contribute to making AI and robotics solutions meet the requirements of Trustworthy AI, based on the respect of the ethical principles, the fundamental rights including critical aspects such as robustness, safety, reliability, in line with the European Approach to AI.

Multidisciplinary research activities should address all of the following:

• Proposals should involve appropriate expertise in the necessary relevant disciplines to reach their objectives. SSH is particularly relevant in addressing human aspects related to human-robot interaction, sensible task distribution between humans and robots, agency, control, trust and handling of data collection, to achieve usability, trustworthiness, safety and adoption of the developed solutions.
• It is essential that scientific and technological results are reproducible and re-usable in order to contribute to the advancement of the targeted research area.
• S&T progress should be demonstrated through use-cases with major and broad socio-economic impact.
• Projects should build on or seek collaboration with existing projects and develop synergies with other relevant European, national or regional initiatives, funding programmes.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on AI, data and robotics.