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Sanctuary AI: A Leap Towards Human-like Intelligence
Sanctuary AI: A Leap Towards Human-like Intelligence
Updated: May 02 2024 01:58
Add Microsoft partnership details - May 02 2024
Sanctuary AI has recently unveiled the seventh generation of its Phoenix™ robots. This latest iteration brings significant improvements to both hardware and AI software, drawing the robots even closer to human-like capabilities. The announcement comes on the heels of the company's sixth generation robot, which was recognized as one of TIME's best inventions of 2023, and the fifth generation robot, which saw its first commercial deployment in January 2023.
Here is the video showing the key features of the Phoenix robot:
Microsoft Partnership with Sanctuary AI to Accelerate AI Development for General Purpose Robots
In a groundbreaking collaboration announced on May 1, 2024, Sanctuary AI has partnered with Microsoft to accelerate the development of AI models for humanoid robots, including Sanctuary AI's flagship product, Phoenix. This partnership aims to bolster AI research and development, with Sanctuary AI leveraging Microsoft's Azure cloud resources for their AI workloads.
Sanctuary AI is making significant strides in the field of AI by building upon the foundation of Large Language Models (LLMs) to create "Large Behavior Models" (LBMs). These models are designed to ground AI in the physical world, enabling systems to understand and learn from real-world experiences.
The collaboration between Sanctuary AI and Microsoft builds upon their previous work in unlocking remote physical work. Sanctuary AI has developed industry-leading robotic hands with a broad set of precision, tactile, and payload capabilities, and takes a responsible approach to development, with the name 'Sanctuary' representing a controlled, secure environment for AI development prior to commercial deployment.
Hardware Advancements
The seventh generation of Phoenix robots boasts an array of hardware improvements that enhance their performance and durability. These advancements include:
Increased uptime: This makes robots more available for training and data capture.
Increased build and commissioning speed: This allows more units to be brought online faster.
Reduced bill of materials: This lowers the cost of manufacture.
Significant hardware improvements: These include increasing the range of motion in the wrists, hands, and elbows, and increasing hand durability.
Further miniaturized hydraulics: This reduces the weight, power consumption, and complexity while increasing hardware and software measures that exceed specified safety standards.
Improved visual acuity and tactile sensing: This leads to higher-fidelity data to train the AI control system.
AI Software Improvements
Alongside the hardware advancements, Sanctuary AI has made significant strides in its AI control system, Carbon™. The seventh generation of Phoenix robots serves as one of the most sophisticated human behavioral data capture technologies available, providing Carbon with high-quality, high-fidelity training data. This has led to a remarkable 50x increase in the speed at which new tasks can be automated, marking a major inflection point in task automation speed and autonomous system capability.
Sanctuary AI has focused on streamlining the production process of its robots. The increased build and commissioning speed allows the company to bring more units online faster, while the reduced bill of materials lowers the cost of manufacture. These improvements not only make the robots more accessible but also enable faster deployment to meet the growing demand for advanced robotics solutions. Below is the latest video showing Phoenix at human-rquivalent speed:
A Strategic Partnership with Magna for the Future of AI Robotics
Early this month, on April 11, 2024, Sanctuary AI also announced a strategic partnership with global mobility technology company Magna. This collaboration features Sanctuary AI’s general-purpose AI robots for deployment in Magna’s manufacturing operations. It also includes a multi-disciplinary assessment of improving cost and scalability of robots using Magna’s automotive product portfolio, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities. Furthermore, the partnership is bolstered by a strategic equity investment by Magna.
Magna, one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world and a significant buyer of industrial robots, aims to leverage Sanctuary AI robots’ unique capabilities across multiple applications within automotive manufacturing processes. The partnership aims to catalyze the scaling of Sanctuary AI’s robots while maturing the technology for use in challenging manufacturing environments for Magna and other industrial and automotive customers.
Accenture's Strategic Investment in Sanctuary AI
Last month, Accenture has made a strategic investment in Sanctuary AI. This investment, made through Accenture Ventures, is set to bring AI-powered, humanoid robotics to work alongside humans.
"AI-powered humanoid robots are essential to reinventing work and supporting human workers as labor shortage is becoming an issue in many countries and industries," said Joe Lui, Accenture’s global advanced automation and robotics lead. He sees huge potential for Sanctuary AI's robots in post and parcel, manufacturing, retail, and logistics warehousing operations. Here, they could complement and collaborate with human workers and automate tasks that traditional robotics can't.
Accenture’s Technology Vision 2024 report found that 95% of executives surveyed agree that making technology more human will massively expand the opportunities of every industry. The report calls for taking a balanced, ‘human by design’ approach that ensures companies use technologies fairly and responsibly. Sanctuary AI is making this a reality by embedding Explainable AI in the Phoenix robot in order to feature reasoning, task, and motion plans that can be defined and audited.
The Path to Artificial General Intelligence
Geordie Rose, CEO and Co-Founder of Sanctuary AI, expressed his excitement about the progress made in just 11 months. He believes that the seventh generation of Phoenix robots is the most closely analogous to a person of any available system. Rose sees this advancement as not only the cornerstone of general purpose AI robotics but also a critical step on the path to artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Sanctuary AI's unveiling of the seventh generation of Phoenix robots marks a significant milestone in the field of AI robotics. With its unprecedented advancements in hardware and AI software, the company is pushing the boundaries of what is possible with general purpose robots. As Sanctuary AI continues to capture increasing quantities of higher quality, higher fidelity human behavioral data, the development of foundational AI models and customer deployments is set to accelerate. The future of AI robotics looks brighter than ever, and Sanctuary AI is at the forefront of this exciting journey towards artificial general intelligence.
