Sanctuary AI Unveils Phoenix, Sixth Generation Humanoid ‘General Purpose’ Robot

Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corp. yesterday unveiled Phoenix, which it described as a "sixth-generation, general purpose robot" powered by its Carbon artificial intelligence control system. The Vancouver, British Columbia-based company said it designed Phoenix to have "human-like intelligence" and to be able to conduct a wide range of tasks.

“We designed Phoenix to be the most sensor-rich and physically capable humanoid ever built and to enable Carbon’s rapidly growing intelligence to perform the broadest set of work tasks possible,” stated Geordie Rose, co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI, on the company's website.

“We see a future where general-purpose robots are as ubiquitous as cars, helping people to do work that needs doing, in cases where there simply aren’t enough people to do that work,” Rose said.

Humanoid robot includes advanced AI

Sanctuary AI said that Phoenix is intended to help address the labor challenges affecting many organizations today. The company claimed that it has been able to show that its technology is already capable of completing hundreds of tasks identified by customers from more than a dozen different industries. It also provided the following specifications:

About Phoenix

• Human-like form and function, standing at 5 ft., 7 in. and weighing 155 lb.
• Maximum payload of 55 lb.
• Maximum speed of 3 mph
• Robotic hands with increased degrees of freedom (20 in total) to "rival human hand dexterity and fine manipulation with proprietary haptic technology that mimics the sense of touch"
• Aesthetics including a bold color palette and elevated textures.

Sanctuary AI said its humanoid robot is different from others in the industry because of its literal take on “general-purpose” and its emphasis on creating a technology that can conduct physical work just like a person.

“To be general-purpose, a robot needs to be able to do nearly any work task, the way you’d expect a person to, in the environment where the work is,” said Rose. “While it is easy to get fixated on the physical aspects of a robot, our view is that the robot is just a tool for the real star of the show, which in our case is our proprietary AI control system, the robot’s Carbon-based mind.”

Click on image to enlarge. Source: Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corp.

About Carbon

• A cognitive architecture and software platform for humanoid general-purpose robots
• Integrates modern AI technologies to translate natural language into action in the real world
• Enables Phoenix to think and act to complete tasks like a person
• Explainable and auditable reasoning, task, and motion plans
• Symbolic and logical reasoning coupled with large language models (LLMs) for general knowledge, domain-specific integrations, and extensions
• Agency and goal-seeking behaviors
• Uses deep learning and reinforcement learning
• Photo-realistic and physics-realistic world simulations for robot training
• Human-in-the-loop supervision, teleoperation, and fleet management

In March, Sanctuary AI announced that it had it completed its first commercial deployment, a significant milestone in the company’s progress toward full commercialization. At that same time, Sanctuary AI announced it was taking an open and collaborative approach to building a new ecosystem in AI and robotics.

Sanctuary AI seeks investors

Founded in 2018, Sanctuary AI said it is developing robots that will work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably. The company said members of its team founded D-Wave, a pioneer in the quantum computing industry; Kindred, which demonstrated reinforcement learning in a production robot; and the Creative Destruction Lab, which developed a method for the commercialization of science for the betterment of humanity.

In addition, Sanctuary AI said its team has innovation experience from startups and companies such as Amazon, HP, IBM, Microsoft, and Samsung. It claimed that its growing list of customers and investors represents a wide variety of industries across Canada, the U.S., and other countries.

Last spring, the company announced the completion of its Series A funding round. In November, the company received a C$30 million ($22.2 million U.S.) Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) contribution from the government of Canada, bringing its total funding to over C$100 million ($74.2 million U.S.). Sanctuary AI said it is actively raising its next funding round.

To fulfill the ambitious mission of creating human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots, the company said it has assembled vendors and partners including Apptronik, Bell, Common Sense Machines, Contoro, Cycorp, Exonetik, HaptX, Magna, Tangible Research, Verizon Ventures, and Workday Ventures.

In other humanoid robotics news, Tesla founder Elon Musk touted the potential value of the Optimus robot during the company's shareholder meeting yesterday.