Sanctuary AI, a company developing physical AI for general purpose robots, has integrated new tactile sensor technology into its Phoenix humanoid robots, which the company refers to as “general purpose robots”.
The integration enables teleoperation pilots to more effectively leverage the dexterity capabilities of general purpose robots to achieve complex, touch-driven tasks with precision and accuracy.
This announcement comes soon after the initial unveiling of Sanctuary AI’s cutting-edge tactile sensors and demonstrates progress in the company’s path to creating dexterous intelligence for autonomous labor.
Key launch details include:
- Improvements in new tactile sensors enable general purpose robots to perform complex, touch-driven tasks with precision and accuracy
- Richer behavioral data collected from new tactile sensors allows embodied physical AI models to be more robust and performant
- As global labor shortages continue to impact industries, many organizations are struggling to fill roles that sustain their operations.
Sanctuary AI’s proprietary technology is focused on addressing these growing labor challenges by developing world-leading dexterous hand technology that enables general purpose robots to fill gaps in the global workforce – fulfilling jobs across a variety of industries, including automotive, distribution, energy, logistics, retail, telecom, utilities, and more.
James Wells, CEO at Sanctuary AI, says: “The sense of touch is a key enabler for creating human-level dexterity in robots and critical for physical AI to achieve its full potential.
“Our tactile sensors enable reliable and confident fine manipulation when vision is occluded, unlocking capabilities such as blind picking, slippage detection and prevention of excessive force application, all broadening the scope and range of tasks for our general purpose robots.
“By equipping general purpose robots with advanced touch sensors, Sanctuary AI’s technology provides industry-leading capabilities to perform work tasks at an increased rate of success.”
Dr Jeremy Fishel, principal researcher at Sanctuary AI, says: “Without tactile sensing, robots depend on video to interact with their environment. With video alone you don’t know you’ve touched something until well after the collision has physically caused the object to move.
“This reduces work efficiency and can require numerous attempts, grasping and re-grasping the same object for a secure hold. Touch solves this.”
Sanctuary AI has been recognized as a leader in general purpose robots and embodied AI intellectual property and was recently ranked third globally by Morgan Stanley for published US patents.
The company’s leading IP position ensures its technology remains proprietary and highly differentiated from competitors.
In 2024, Sanctuary AI unveiled the latest iteration of its Phoenix robots, now equipped with advanced tactile sensors, and remains committed to driving innovation in the AI and robotics industry.
This integration marks a further milestone in differentiating its approach to dexterity from competitors who rely on stereo camera feeds for their technology to interact with objects in the real world.