Sanctuary AI Unveils the Next Generation of AI Robotics

April 26, 2024

25 2 minutes read

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Generation 7 of ‘Phoenix‘ robots include improved human-like range of motion
Improvements in uptime, visual perception, and tactile sensing increase the capability of the system to perform complex tasks over longer periods
Design iteration significantly decreases build time
The speed at which new tasks can be automated has increased 50x, marking a major inflection point in task automation speed

VANCOUVER, BC, April 25, 2024 /CNW/ – Sanctuary AI, a company on a mission to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general purpose robots, today unveiled the seventh generation of its general purpose robot Phoenix™. The latest generation robot and its AI control system, Carbon™, draw even closer to that of a person, with wide ranging improvements to both the hardware and AI software. The announcement comes less than 12 months after Sanctuary AI’s sixth generation robot (one of TIME’s best inventions of 2023) was launched, and less than 16 months after its fifth generation robot was first commercially deployed in January 2023.

Introducing Phoenix Gen 7 (CNW Group/Sanctuary AI)

This generation of Phoenix is one of the most sophisticated human behavioral data capture technologies available today, providing Carbon with some of the highest quality, highest fidelity, training data available. The changes include:

Increased uptime, making robots more available for training and data capture
Increased build and commissioning speed, allowing us to bring more units online faster
Reduced bill of materials, lowering the cost of manufacture
Significant hardware improvements, increasing range of motion in the wrists, hands, and elbows, and increasing hand durability
Further miniaturized hydraulics, reducing the weight, power consumption, and complexity with increased hardware and software measures that exceed specified safety standards
Improved visual acuity and tactile sensing, leading to higher-fidelity data to train the AI control system
The time it takes for new tasks to be automated has gone from weeks to less than 24 hours, marking a major inflection point in task automation speed and autonomous system capability

“It’s incredible to see the progress that has been made in just 11 months,” said Geordie Rose, CEO and Co-Founder of Sanctuary AI. “With Generation 7, we have a system that we believe is the most closely analogous to a person of any available. We see this as not only the cornerstone of general purpose AI robotics but a critical step on the path to artificial general intelligence, and we’re thrilled to be leading the charge on it. This all adds up to being able to capture increasing quantities of higher quality, higher fidelity human behavioral data, which in turn will expedite the development of foundational AI models and customer deployments.”

About Sanctuary AI

Founded in 2018, Sanctuary AI is a multi-award-winning company based in Vancouver, Canada. Sanctuary AI is on a mission to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general purpose robots that will help us work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably, helping to address the labor challenges facing many organizations today. Sanctuary AI’s growing list of customers and investors represents a wide variety of industries across Canada, the US, and other countries around the world.

Members of the Sanctuary AI team founded D-Wave (a pioneer in the quantum computing industry), Kindred (first use of reinforcement learning in a production robot), and the Creative Destruction Lab (pioneered a revolutionary method for the commercialization of science for the betterment of humankind). With experience at startups and technology leaders such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Softbank Robotics, the team has experience launching market-defining innovations rooted in previously unsolved and deep scientific problems.