Vancouver-based Sanctuary AI, known for its innovative general-purpose robot Phoenix™, has earned a place on TIME’s Best Inventions list for 2023. Its co-founder and CEO, Geordie Rose, is a graduate of McMaster University’s Engineering Physics program and an inductee to the university’s Hall of Fame.
Phoenix™ is a sixth-generation general-purpose robot, which features human-like intelligence and a humanoid physical form that is specifically designed to perform work tasks. It’s poised to disrupt labour-related issues by offering an autonomous solution that can learn physical work tasks and operate in dynamic environments.
Below, Rose shares insights on the work of his groundbreaking team at Sanctuary AI.
How does Sanctuary AI’s Phoenix robot differ from other robots on the market, and what advantages does its human-like intelligence offer in addressing labour shortages?
There have been a lot of humanoid and bipedal robots entering the industry, but it’s important to remember that not all humanoid and biped robots are general purpose robots. We have observed that bipedal robots that can walk on two legs have been around for several decades, yet no significant supplier has matured or commercialized the technology despite having the necessary resources. If legs were the key to work, bipedal robots would already be everywhere. In fact, more than 98% of all work tasks actually require hand dexterity and fine manipulation.
Phoenix, our sixth generation general purpose robots, have industry-leading state-of-the-art robotic hands that feature human-like dexterity, fine hand and finger manipulation, and a sense of touch. The acquisition of Tangible Research, the purchase of Giant.AI’s entire patent portfolio, along with our own independent activity further deepens our IP and expertise in this critical area. Sanctuary AI’s robots can perform hundreds of tasks with our highly dexterous hands, you can see Phoenix do things like bimanual object manipulation, sorting objects based on shape, size, or color, and more on our YouTube channel. Yet as technologically impressive as it is, the Phoenix system is in some ways a means to an end—a humanoid embodiment of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
While our Phoenix robots’ human-like form, highly-dexterous hands, and movement are extraordinary, the real star of the show remains to be our human-like intelligence Carbon. Just like it is true with people, for robots it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. Carbon mimics subsystems found in the human brain, and is designed to give our Phoenix robots the ability to think, communicate, and act to complete work tasks just like a person. Similar to large language models built on data from the internet, we are building large behavior models that are built with human data. Using this approach, one can instruct a robot to do any task and, like a person, Carbon comes up with a plan and powers Phoenix to complete it. This has astronomical implications to help address the on-going labor shortages, and more importantly, to help everyone work more safely, efficiently, and sustainably so that we can give back one of humanity’s most important resources—time.
Environments can change, objects can move locations, or even change sizes, but our blend of human-like intelligence and general purpose robots can adjust to these dynamic variables and get the job done. In the not-too-distant future, people will likely have a choice of many different robots. But we’re certain they’ll want one like Phoenix, that is powered by Carbon.
What motivated Sanctuary AI to embark on its mission to create robots that can work alongside humans? How does this fit into the larger context of evolving labour dynamics?
Understanding the human mind well enough to build one in a machine has been mine and my co-founders’ vision for over a decade. It’s the impetus of our company’s mission: to create the world’s first human-like intelligence in general purpose robots. Before we founded Sanctuary AI, there were no other companies working on embodied AGI; there were no human-like intelligence or dexterous general purpose robots available, so we developed our own.
Our work and technological breakthroughs are grounded in purpose. The world is currently experiencing declining birth rates and labor shortages. In the U.S., there are 9.6 million job openings, but only 6.4 million unemployed workers. These labor shortages pose a real threat to the continuation of humanity’s way of life—Sanctuary AI is creating a solution to that.
Can you share some examples of real-world applications and industries where Sanctuary AI’s Phoenix robots have made a significant impact or have the potential to do so?
Powered by Carbon, opportunities exist to take on just about any human task through using Sanctuary AI’s general purpose technology. Our technology can drop into any environment, including dynamic, fast-changing ones, and begin to work. You can see Phoenix perform a series of different tasks on our YouTube channel that at first glance may seem unassuming, but have global implications. The learned skills from tasks become transferable and applicable across many different contexts. Stacking blocks can become stacking products on shelves in retail stores, stacking heavy boxes in manufacturing factories, or even stacking delicate medical equipment in hospitals.
We continue to use Carbon and Phoenix across a broad range of tasks and workplace environments, most notably our team successfully launched first-of-its-kind deployments to customer sites, with our first one earlier last year in partnership with the Canadian Tire Corporation. Sanctuary AI’s technology is already helping to address the labor challenges that are beginning to impact the success of organizations across the world. Many organizations have already become paying customers of ours in order to future-proof their operations and ensure their future sustainability against a shrinking workforce.
Are there lessons learned during your time at McMaster that you’re still using in your work today?
The engineering physics program at McMaster helped lay the foundation to build tenacity and ambition. It helped craft my perspective, approach, and passion into the discovery and development of groundbreaking technologies that have global implications—technology that can change the entire landscape of society.
Considering the recognition on TIME’s Best Inventions list, what’s next for Sanctuary AI, and how does the company plan to advance its mission and technology in the coming years?
Given the awareness and popularity of the recent LLM-fueled wave of generative AI tools, some people are starting to ask what comes next. That’s exactly what we’ve been working on here at Sanctuary AI since 2018. The next wave of AI will be “grounding” AI in the physical world, or “real world AI” that will support the development of embodied AGI systems.
Our team continues to make great strides in our journey towards embodied AGI as we work to achieve our mission of creating the world’s first human-like intelligence in general purpose robots. Unlike other companies in the AI robotics space who focus on automating one task at a time, we have developed a proprietary process that automates physical work exponentially faster.
When we started out we were the only company working in this space, and now we have led and pioneered an industry that others have emulated. We are creating an innovation revolution, it’s an exciting time for sure!