Led by Nathan Lepora, the Dexterous Robotics group develops robotic hands and tactile control systems to help robots manipulate objects. We are based in Bristol Robotics Laboratory, part of the University of Bristol.
Current members
October 2026.
The group includes academic staff alongside postdoctoral researchers and PhD students supervised or co-supervised by Nathan Lepora.
Senior Lecturer in Robotics, University of Bristol
PhD, CSC, 2022–
PhD, ARIA, 2025–
Professor of Computational and Experimental Mathematics, University of Bristol
Senior Lecturer in Robotics, University of Bristol
Co-Inv ManiBot, Principal Inv MultiTip
PhD, PrO-AI, 2023–
PhD, ARIA, 2025–
PhD, ARIA, 2026–
Research Assistant
MultiTip, ManiBot
PhD, ARIA, 2025–
PhD, PrO-AI, 2025–
Professor of Robotics & AI, University of Bristol
PhD, ARIA, 2025–
PhD, CSC, 2025–
Current projects
2025–29 · ARIA
ARIA: Robot Dexterity
A Bristol–Imperial collaboration brings together robotic hand design and AI control through the project Democratising Co-Design of Hardware and Control for Robot Dexterity.
- PI (Bristol)
- Nathan Lepora
- PI (Imperial)
- Ed Johns
2023–27 · Horizon Europe
MANiBOT
Developing human-like bimanual manipulation in mobile robots, combining tactile sensing, perception and adaptive control to handle diverse objects in changing environments.
- PI (Bristol)
- Nathan Lepora
- CoI (Bristol)
- Efi Psomopoulou
2025–27 · Royal Society
MultiTip
Developing a multimodal fingertip sensor combining vision-based touch, vibration sensing and pose tracking for precise object manipulation.
- PI (Bristol)
- Efi Psomopoulou
- CoI
- Nathan Lepora
- PI (Seoul, SK)
- Saekwang Nam
Industry collaborations include Ocado Technology, Google DeepMind, Ultraleap, Shadow Robotics and VSim.
About Nathan
Nathan F. Lepora is Professor of Robotics & AI at the University of Bristol and leads the Dexterous Robotics Group. His research brings together tactile sensing, robotic manipulation, artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience.
He joined Bristol as a Lecturer in 2014 and became Professor of Robotics & AI in 2019. His current focus includes the ARIA collaboration with Imperial College London to advance robot dexterity.
Academic background
Nathan became Senior Lecturer in 2016 and Reader in 2017. His PhD supervisor, Professor Anne Davis, was the first woman appointed professor in Cambridge’s Faculty of Mathematics. His first postdoctoral advisor, Professor Tom Kibble, jointly discovered the Higgs mechanism.
Before joining Bristol in 2014, Nathan held postdoctoral positions in the Department of Psychology at the University of Sheffield, working with Professor Kevin Gurney and Professor Tony Prescott. His research moved from computational neuroscience into biomimetic robotics and robot touch.
Awards and recognition
University Research Project of the Year
The tactile robotics project won the 2022 Elektra readers’ choice award, following a public vote by technology magazine readers.
Read about the award →Research leadership
A Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award supported A Biomimetic Forebrain for Robot Touch (2017–2023), bringing together postdoctoral researchers in neuroscience, AI and robotics.
Media and interviews →Alumni
PhD alumni and former postdoctoral researchers associated with the group work across universities, robotics companies and research organisations.
PhD, PrO-AI + Google DeepMind, 2022–2026
Research Scientist, Mistral AI
PhD, CSC, 2021–2025 · Postdoc, ARIA, 2025–2026
Assistant Professor, Beijing Institute of Technology
PhD, 2021–2025
Research Scientist, Dexmate
Postdoc, Leverhulme, 2017–2024
PhD, Farscope, 2018–2024
PhD, 2018–2024
Teaching Associate, University of Bristol, 2024–2026
Postdoc, Leverhulme, 2018–2024
Research Associate in AI for Collective Intelligence, Cardiff University
PhD, Neural Dynamics, 2016–2020 · Postdoc, Leverhulme, 2020
Applied ML Engineer, Visible
PhD, Farscope, 2016–2020 · Postdoc, with Shadow Robotics
Founder Director, Nimbus Agri-Tech
PhD, 2016–2020 · Postdoc, Leverhulme, 2020
Senior Model Developer, Animal and Plant Health Agency
Postdoc, Tactile Super-resolution, 2016–2017
Associate Professor, University of Nottingham
PhD, Neural Dynamics, 2016–2019
PhD, Sheffield University, 2010–2014
Senior Lecturer in Robotics, University of Bath
Earlier projects
Smart, Collaborative Industrial Robotics
Apr 2022–Apr 2025
EPSRC ISCF Research Centre · Co-investigator: Nathan Lepora
The centre aimed to make industrial robots easier to deploy and work with. Bristol’s research combined soft actuation, tactile sensing and machine learning for dexterous manipulation.
Niels Lohse led the centre, a collaboration between Loughborough, Strathclyde, Cranfield, Bristol and Warwick universities. Jonathan Rossiter was Bristol Principal Investigator, with postdocs Saekwang Nam, Loong Yi and Silvia Terrile on the Bristol team.
Explore the project →Biomimetic Forebrain for Robot Touch
Apr 2017–2023
Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award · Principal Investigator: Nathan Lepora
The project combined computational neuroscience and robotics to explore brain-inspired control of 3D-printed hands with tactile sensing, aiming for human-like dexterity.
The project supported a team of postdocs including John Lloyd, Thom Griffith, Anupam Gupta, Efi Psomopoulou and Nick Pestell. It received extensive media coverage and won the Elektra Award for University Research Project of the Year.
Sim-to-real Deep Reinforcement Learning in Robot Touch
Sep 2018–Sep 2022
DeepMind PhD Scholarship
Nathan Lepora and Raia Hadsell (DeepMind) co-supervised Alex Church, who pioneered the use of deep reinforcement learning in robot touch.
Tactile Sensing of Ultrasound
Sep 2018–Sep 2022
UltraLeap PhD Scholarship
Nathan Lepora and Will Frier (Ultraleap) co-supervised Noor Alakhawand, who applied the group’s tactile sensing technology to measuring ultrasound.
Tactile Smart Grasping System
Oct 2017–Sep 2018
EPSRC Impact Acceleration Award · Principal Investigator: Nathan Lepora
Nick Pestell and Luke Cramphorn worked with Shadow Robotics to equip the three-fingered Shadow Modular Grasper with vision-based tactile fingertips. The work fed into the Shadow/DeepMind collaboration on the Dex-EE hand.
Tactile Super-resolution Sensing
Oct 2015–Mar 2017
EPSRC New Investigator Award · Principal Investigator: Nathan Lepora
The project explored how biomimetic fingertips can localise contact more precisely than the spacing between their tactile sensing elements.
The project supported postdoc Elena Giannaccini and, with school support, a PhD studentship for Nick Pestell.
Multimaterial 3D-printing infrastructure
Sep 2021
EPSRC Equipment Award · Co-investigator: Nathan Lepora
Nathan Lepora led a £250k equipment award to acquire a Stratasys J826 multimaterial 3D printer for Bristol Robotics Laboratory.
Earlier group photograph
