Sanctuary AI Phoenix: Could the 6th generation of the humanoid general-purpose robot soon replace human workers?
The Canadian company Sanctuary AI has presented the sixth generation of the humanoid robot Phoenix. The company's goal is to build the first general purpose robot (GPR) with "human-like intelligence". The Phoenix builds on previous generations and has an interesting approach to 'training'.
Image: Sanctuary AI
Humanoid robot to do human tasks
The human-like build is certainly not the most efficient form a robot can take. However, the point of the Phoenix is that it should take on as many human tasks as possible - so constructing the robot based on the human model makes perfect sense. Because the modern world was primarily created around us humans and our two-legged locomotion, our hands and our body size. GPRs are therefore often designed human-like. A well-known example is the Tesla robot.
Sanctuary has some experience with humanoid robots. In March there was a pilot project with such a robot, which, however, only consisted of the upper body. The project took place in a Canadian Tire Corporation store. According to Sanctuary, the robot could do 110 tasks there, including packing, cleaning, labeling, folding and others. Such flexibility is an important factor in the company's goal that future robots designed should be able to perform all the tasks of a human worker. The robots are “trained” using a learning concept developed by Kindred, a company founded by Sanctuary co-founder Suzanne Gilbert.
Learning through telepresence
The robots basically learn tasks through telepresence. A human is equipped with an HR headset and connected to a system for motion capture. In the VR headset, he sees the world from the robot's point of view and controls it. The AI of the Phoenix watches and learns, so to speak.
The program identifies movement patterns and uses them to build up a repertoire of actions relevant to the task. At a certain point, the robot can then take over the corresponding task itself. In the case of the Canadian Tire Company store, the AI was "trained" at Sanctuary's headquarters.
However, the concept of telepresence works from anywhere with a correspondingly good Internet connection. Theoretically, a human in Europe can "teach" a Phoenix robot in the USA. However, during the pilot project it was impossible to say whether the robot was actually performing the tasks completely autonomously or whether a human was involved in telepresence. Sanctuary is also silent on this.
170 centimeter tall robot
In an April blog post titled "Honesty in Technology Communications, Marketing and Storytelling," the company admitted that in most videos posted about GPRs, the robot will still be controlled by a human in telepresence, and not fully works autonomously. So these videos are good for answering the possibilities of the hardware. As for the software, things are different.
The Phoenix GPR in the sixth generation now consists of an upper and a lower body and is about 170 centimeters tall - with a face of 70 kilograms. The payload of the robot is 25 kilograms. His hands have a range of motion of 20 degrees.
Carbon: The Brain of Phoenix
The AI behind the robot goes by the name "Carbon". Not only does it capture learning in telepresence, it also has a large language model that could allow it to have conversations at ChatGPT level in the future and process orders in natural language. Sanctuary even goes so far as to claim that thanks to carbon, Phoenix can "fulfil tasks like a human being", including the planning phase and goal-oriented work. However, considering the actual capabilities of the robot, this seems more like a marketing slogan.
One ability that the robot doesn't have, although it's obvious, is running. Although the robot has legs, Sanctuary constructed a platform of wheels for Phoenix to move around on. Until a corresponding algorithm for natural walking is available, this seems to be the preferred solution. Until then, the robot rolls towards its tasks at 4.8 km/h.
https://www.sanctuary.ai/resources/...noid-general-purpose-robot-designed-for-work/
The Canadian company Sanctuary AI has presented the sixth generation of the humanoid robot Phoenix. The company's goal is to build the first general purpose robot (GPR) with "human-like intelligence". The Phoenix builds on previous generations and has an interesting approach to 'training'.
Image: Sanctuary AI
Humanoid robot to do human tasks
The human-like build is certainly not the most efficient form a robot can take. However, the point of the Phoenix is that it should take on as many human tasks as possible - so constructing the robot based on the human model makes perfect sense. Because the modern world was primarily created around us humans and our two-legged locomotion, our hands and our body size. GPRs are therefore often designed human-like. A well-known example is the Tesla robot.
Sanctuary has some experience with humanoid robots. In March there was a pilot project with such a robot, which, however, only consisted of the upper body. The project took place in a Canadian Tire Corporation store. According to Sanctuary, the robot could do 110 tasks there, including packing, cleaning, labeling, folding and others. Such flexibility is an important factor in the company's goal that future robots designed should be able to perform all the tasks of a human worker. The robots are “trained” using a learning concept developed by Kindred, a company founded by Sanctuary co-founder Suzanne Gilbert.
Learning through telepresence
The robots basically learn tasks through telepresence. A human is equipped with an HR headset and connected to a system for motion capture. In the VR headset, he sees the world from the robot's point of view and controls it. The AI of the Phoenix watches and learns, so to speak.
The program identifies movement patterns and uses them to build up a repertoire of actions relevant to the task. At a certain point, the robot can then take over the corresponding task itself. In the case of the Canadian Tire Company store, the AI was "trained" at Sanctuary's headquarters.
However, the concept of telepresence works from anywhere with a correspondingly good Internet connection. Theoretically, a human in Europe can "teach" a Phoenix robot in the USA. However, during the pilot project it was impossible to say whether the robot was actually performing the tasks completely autonomously or whether a human was involved in telepresence. Sanctuary is also silent on this.
170 centimeter tall robot
In an April blog post titled "Honesty in Technology Communications, Marketing and Storytelling," the company admitted that in most videos posted about GPRs, the robot will still be controlled by a human in telepresence, and not fully works autonomously. So these videos are good for answering the possibilities of the hardware. As for the software, things are different.
The Phoenix GPR in the sixth generation now consists of an upper and a lower body and is about 170 centimeters tall - with a face of 70 kilograms. The payload of the robot is 25 kilograms. His hands have a range of motion of 20 degrees.
Carbon: The Brain of Phoenix
The AI behind the robot goes by the name "Carbon". Not only does it capture learning in telepresence, it also has a large language model that could allow it to have conversations at ChatGPT level in the future and process orders in natural language. Sanctuary even goes so far as to claim that thanks to carbon, Phoenix can "fulfil tasks like a human being", including the planning phase and goal-oriented work. However, considering the actual capabilities of the robot, this seems more like a marketing slogan.
One ability that the robot doesn't have, although it's obvious, is running. Although the robot has legs, Sanctuary constructed a platform of wheels for Phoenix to move around on. Until a corresponding algorithm for natural walking is available, this seems to be the preferred solution. Until then, the robot rolls towards its tasks at 4.8 km/h.
https://www.sanctuary.ai/resources/...noid-general-purpose-robot-designed-for-work/
