Sanctuary AI has revealed better hand sensors for their humanoid robots. It is a new generation of tactile sensor technology optimized to improve dexterous manipulation.
Sanctuary is believes great robot hands are performing all of the high value tasks in the workplace when combined with AI and sensors. This requires a delicate—but durable—sense of touch to efficiently complete tasks with precision. They have have met the requirements needed to build compliant, sensitive, and durable sensors at low manufacturing costs.
Sanctuary AI has shown its eighth generation Phoenix general purpose AI humanoid robots. This new generation of Phoenix robots is optimized for capturing high quality data, with improvements to field of view and telemetry systems, and enhanced person-robot interaction. Phoenix Generation 8 was also designed with manufacturing in mind, with additional improvements in bill of materials costs and the simplicity of its design, making it quicker to commission and build.
Key improvements include:
Improvements to telemetry system for enhanced data capture and training
Improvements to both the depth and vision cameras which increases the field of view and resolution
Improvements to Phoenix’s sensor suite and audio and video system
Improvements in cost savings and design, allowing for increased speed of manufacturing and commissioning time
New CEO
Geordie Rose was the CEO of Sanctuary AI until he was ousted by the company’s board in November 2024. The Board has selected James Wells, as interim CEO with full support from the executive team.
James Wells, who was previously the company’s chief commercial officer
The board’s decision to oust Rose led to the departure of other employees, including the company’s CMO.
Some investors were worried about the company’s ability to raise capital.
In April 2024, co-founder and CTO Suzanne left Sanctuary AI. She is now CEO of Nirvanic Consciousness Technologies.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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One of the problems between “synthetic touch” and how effective it is, is does it feel real to a person who also feels it? One way I think we can deal with this is by designing a “tactile glove” . A “glove” that transmits “touch” information directly to the hand of the person that glove is on the hand of. This to work, will require a lot of trial and error. What “feels right” to a persons hand is very specific, It’s asymptomatic, non-linear, and very extraordinary difficult to “model” using current digital technology. But with enough trial and error, we might have a glove that “feels” what a human hand does. Wouldn’t that be great, to have a glove that provides protection, and true tactile feedback. Far as I know, were still working on that.
I’d like to see some in depth coverage of Clone robotics.
They’re taking a different approach; Rather than standard robotics cast into a humanoid form, they’re trying to emulate the human muscular-skeletal system in detail using elastic hydraulic muscle fibers. The result is probably a lot less capable of maintenance and repair, but could be a basis for building androids that were largely indistinguishable from humans. (Yeah, you can guess what the market for THAT would be!)
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/dangling-twitching-human-robot-with-synthetic-muscles-makes-its-debut/
I don’t understand by what you mean by “Clone Robotics”, since robots do not have DNA (far as I know). Please define. Thanks.
It’s the name of the company doing this work. I thought that much was obvious.
I am surprised and find it odd that you mentioned all the men involved in full but that ‘Suzanne’ a founding member and former CTO has no surname apparently. I had to look up her current position at Nirvanic to find out. Please try harder to include the other half of humanity they do seem to be contributing significantly.
Unfortunate turn of events. They were in good shape with a promising future a couple years ago, I thought Canada would have a shot at being able to hang with the big boys. But that’s clearly fizzled out. Companies like Tesla, Figure, 1x, & Unitree are pulling ahead without them.
RIP