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Sanctuary’s Phoenix humanoid is being developed to assist quite a lot of duties. | Credit score: Sanctuary AI
In its Technology Vision 2024 report, Accenture mentioned 95% of the executives it surveyed agreed that “making expertise extra human will massively develop the alternatives of each {industry}.” Properly, at the moment Accenture put its cash the place its mouth is. Accenture Ventures introduced a strategic funding in Sanctuary AI, one of many companies developing humanoid robots.
The Robotic Report reached out to Sanctuary to study extra in regards to the funding however hadn’t heard again at press time. This text will probably be up to date if extra particulars are realized. Monetary particulars of the funding weren’t disclosed.
Vancouver, Canada-based Sanctuary was based in 2018 by Geordie Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton, and Ajay Agrawal. In December 2023, the company announced the acquisition of intellectual property from Giant.AI Inc. and Tangible Research to enhance its contact and greedy applied sciences.
Humanoids are producing a number of curiosity nowadays. Figure recently raised $675 million and is piloting its humanoid with BMW. Agility Robotics has piloted its Digit humanoid with Amazon and GXO Logistics. Apptronik lately announced a partnership with BMW. NVIDIA additionally introduced a basis mannequin for humanoids, called GROOT, that’s designed to deliver robotics and embodied AI collectively.
Sanctuary targeted on dexterous manipulation
Whereas different humanoid builders have targeted a lot of their power on bipedal locomotion, Sanctuary has taken a unique strategy with its Phoenix robotic. It believes object manipulation is the important thing to humanoid success out there and has put most of its power into hand-eye coordination and AI intelligence to assist dexterous manipulation.
Sanctuary has revealed a collection of movies of its robots “doing stuff” on YouTube (see video on the backside of the story). These movies illustrate the event path of the two-armed humanoid in addition to the AI behind the robots’ decision-making.
Powered by Carbon, Phoenix is now autonomously finishing easy duties at human-equivalent pace. This is a vital step on the journey to full autonomy. Phoenix is exclusive amongst humanoids in its pace, precision, and energy, all crucial for industrial purposes. pic.twitter.com/bYlsKBYw3i
— Geordie Rose (@realgeordierose) February 28, 2024
“AI-powered humanoid robots are important to reinventing work and supporting human staff as labor scarcity is changing into a problem in lots of international locations and industries,” mentioned Joe Lui, Accenture’s international superior automation and robotics lead. “Sanctuary AI’s superior AI platform trains robots to react to their surroundings and carry out new duties with precision in a really brief time. We see large potential for his or her robots in submit and parcel, manufacturing, retail, and logistics warehousing operations, the place they may complement and collaborate with human staff and automate duties that conventional robotics can’t.”
Constructing an AI mind
Phoenix is powered by Sanctuary’s AI management system, Carbon, which makes an attempt to imitate subsystems discovered within the human mind. The strategy taken by the corporate additionally seeks to make the AI actions explainable, in addition to editable.
“Robots with human-like intelligence will utterly rework the workforce of the long run,” mentioned Rose, chief government officer and co-founder of Sanctuary AI. “By combining Accenture’s experience in disruptive expertise with Sanctuary AI’s industry-leading robotics, we might help a number of the largest firms on the planet handle this alteration and supply the very best options for its purchasers.”
Accenture’s rising robotics portfolio
The funding in Sanctuary is the most recent transfer by Accenture to construct out a robotics technique. In January 2024, Accenture and Mujin created a three way partnership to assist deliver robotics to the manufacturing and logistics industries. Referred to as Accenture Alpha Automation, the brand new enterprise is owned 70% by Accenture and 30% by Mujin. The brand new firm, referred to as Accenture Alpha Automation, combines Mujin’s industrial robotics experience with Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Trade X.
Accenture Alpha Automation is positioned in Japan, which is a robotics powerhouse. Japan had the fourth-highest robot density of any country in 2022, in line with the Worldwide Federation of Robotics. Robotic density measures the variety of operational industrial robots per 10,000 staff in a rustic.
Accenture has additionally constructed out robotics integration capabilities in recent times. In early 2021, Accenture acquired Pollux, a supplier of commercial robotics and automation. This was Accenture’s first acquisition of the sort. On the time of the deal, Pollux had carried out greater than 1,000 tasks for manufacturing firms, primarily in Brazil. It mentioned it has deployed 150-plus collaborative robots efficiently all through Brazil.
In 2022, Accenture acquired Eclipse Automation, a supplier of customized automation and robotics options for manufacturing purposes. Eclipse Automation creates automated manufacturing programs for all times sciences, industrial tools, automotive, power and shopper items firms.
