Nearhuman secures Innovate UK Frontier AI funding to advance the foundations of Physical AI

Following its recent £350,000 pre-seed funding announcement, Nearhuman has secured support through Innovate UK’s Frontier AI Discovery programme to explore new approaches to efficient artificial intelligence for the physical world.

Nearhuman, a Bristol-based technology company developing Physical AI solutions, has been awarded funding through Innovate UK’s Frontier AI Discovery programme, marking another milestone in its ambition to bring advanced intelligence closer to the machines and environments that shape everyday life.

The award follows the company’s recent £350,000 pre-seed investment round led by SFC Capital and represents a further step in Nearhuman’s long-term research and development strategy.

Moving beyond the cloud

Artificial intelligence has advanced rapidly in recent years, with increasingly capable models transforming how people interact with information and digital systems.

However, bringing similar capabilities into the physical world introduces a different set of challenges.

Machines operating in real-world environments often need to understand complex surroundings, respond in real time and operate within strict limitations on computing power, memory and energy consumption.

Addressing these challenges is essential to unlocking the next generation of Physical AI.

Through the Frontier AI Discovery programme, Nearhuman will investigate new approaches to making advanced AI more computationally efficient, with the longer-term ambition of enabling increasingly capable intelligence to operate directly on physical devices.

“The future of AI won’t be defined by model size alone, but by how intelligently and efficiently those models can operate in the real world. At Nearhuman, we’re challenging some of the fundamental assumptions about how AI should be built. This programme gives us an opportunity to explore that direction.”

Building the foundations for the next generation of Physical AI

Nearhuman’s initial commercial focus has been on bringing AI capabilities to micromobility, helping vehicles better understand their surroundings and supporting safer urban mobility.

Its wider ambition extends beyond any single industry.

The company believes that advances in efficient, adaptable AI could eventually support a broad range of physical systems, from robotics and autonomous machines to industrial technologies and intelligent infrastructure.

The newly funded project will explore the feasibility of new approaches to advanced AI, examining the technical foundations needed to bring more sophisticated intelligence into environments where conventional computing resources are limited.

“For Physical AI to achieve widespread adoption, advanced intelligence needs to become more efficient, accessible and commercially viable. This programme supports the early research needed to investigate how we can overcome some of those barriers.”

Supporting the UK’s frontier AI ambitions

The Frontier AI Discovery programme, funded by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), supports ambitious feasibility research into frontier artificial intelligence, machine learning and foundation models.

Nearhuman’s initial project will focus on assessing technical feasibility and establishing the evidence needed to inform future research and development.

While the programme is exploratory, it provides an opportunity to investigate foundational AI technologies with potentially significant long-term applications.

For Nearhuman, the award also reflects the company’s commitment to developing original research and intellectual property in the UK.

From intelligent mobility to a broader Physical AI future

Following its recent pre-seed investment, Nearhuman is continuing to advance its commercial technology alongside longer-term research into the fundamental capabilities that could enable the next generation of intelligent machines.

Together, these efforts form part of the company’s wider vision: building the intelligence layer for the physical world.

About Nearhuman

Nearhuman is a Bristol-based Physical AI company developing technologies that enable machines to perceive, understand and interact with the world around them.

Beginning with intelligent safety solutions for micromobility, Nearhuman is working towards a broader future in which advanced AI becomes an integral part of everyday physical systems.

Learn more at nearhuman.co.