Sanctuary AI integrates tactile sensors into Phoenix general purpose robots

The Phoenix humanoid robot has tactile sensors for improved teleoperation. Source: Sanctuary AI

One challenge of building general-purpose and humanoid robots is training them for dexterous manipulation. Sanctuary AI today announced that it has integrated new tactile sensors into its Phoenix robots. This will enable teleoperated pilots to more effectively conduct complex, touch-driven tasks with precision and accuracy, said the company.

“Without tactile sensing, robots depend on video to interact with their environment,” noted Dr. Jeremy Fishel, principal researcher at Sanctuary AI. “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.”

Founded in 2018, Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corp. has been recognized as a leader in intellectual property around general-purpose robots and embodied artificial intelligence. Morgan Stanley recently ranked it third globally for published U.S. patents.

“I remember in 2019 going out to customers trying to explain the concept of a general-purpose robot,” Sanctuary CEO James Wells told The Robot Report. “But the zeitgeist is 1740581893 out there.”

Sanctuary last year unveiled the latest iteration of its Phoenix robots and raised funding bringing its total to $140 million. The Vancouver, Canada-based company also demonstrated in-hand object manipulation with its 21 degree-of-freedom (DoF) hand.

Sanctuary AI seeks data on physical contact

In addition to improving accurate manipulation, Sanctuary said tactile sensing will provide richer behavioral data to make embodied physical AI models more robust and performant.

“We were always focused on the highest-value part of the hardware tech stack, which is the hands,” explained Wells. “Dexterity is a complicated problem, and the solution is a combination of many different things.”

He cited Sanctuary’s hydraulic actuation and sensing approach and the need to be able to adjust robotic grasping. The company had built five generations of robotic grippers, including electromechanical, cable-based, and pneumatic hands, but it chose hydraulics for their flow resolution, miniaturization, and sensitivity.

Sanctuary began working on tactile sensing with its acquisition of Tangible Research two years ago.

“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,” stated Wells. “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.”

Phoenix’s finger pads include a seven-cell touch sensor with micro-barometers, like those made affordable in smartphones, Wells explained. They are sensitive to 5 millinewtons (mN), which is getting close to human sensitivity of 3 mN.

“It’s got this incredible dynamic range,” said Wells. “It can vector on where the pressure is coming from, and you can get shear forces, which is really important for slip detection.”

“It’s all about managing collisions,” he observed. “That’s completely different than the autonomous vehicle AI tech stack, which is all about avoiding collisions. In our simulation tools, a lot of our AI is purpose-built for managing dexterous interactions with the world.”

Sanctuary says tactile sensing can improve grasping and help train physical AI models for general-purpose robots. Source: Sanctuary AI

Phoenix robots get a lighter touch

As labor shortages affect businesses worldwide, many are struggling to fill key roles, noted Sanctuary AI. The company asserted that making its robotic hand more dexterous will enable general-purpose robots to tackle tasks across industries, including automotive, distribution and logistics, energy, retail, utilities, and more.

“The primary use case for our touch sensors is to speed up teleoperation activity. A lot of the humanoid systems are not at human parity in terms of speed,” Wells added. “If you’ve ever piloted a robot without touch sensors, it’s very cognitively heavy because you’re straining your eyes and are very conservative in your motions because you don’t want to break the robot or knock the part off the table.”

Sanctuary AI is already seeing fewer hours of real-world data contribute to more robust models from imitation learning, he said. Will the company add more tactile sensors to Phoenix in, say, its palms or arms?

“I see the environment as an extension of the robot. As soon as you dive in to the chaos of dealing with edge cases or moving into dynamic environments where there are people, the more sensor data, the better,” replied Wells. ” But if you increase sensor density, that adds cost. What’s the tradeoff? I’m hypersensitive to the performance and cost tradeoffs. Right now, I believe that this market that people are suggesting is $60 trillion annually is a function of how capable the robot is.”

While other humanoid developers are working on legged mobility, Sanctuary AI is staying focused on dexterous manipulation.

“The rest is going to come,” Wells said. “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.”

“There is significant buy-in by the Fortune 500 that physical AI is going to demonstrably change your physical workforce,” he said. “When Jensen [Huang, NVIDIA CEO] says physical AI is going to be a big thing earlier this year, people say, ‘OK, what are we doing about that?’ So it’s accelerating.”

Learn more about humanoids at the Robotics Summit

Humanoids will be prominent at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which runs from April 30 to May 1 in Boston and is produced by WTWH Media, parent of The Robot Report.

The first day of the event will feature a panel on the state of humanoids with Pras Velagapudi, chief technology officer at Agility Robotics; Aaron Prather, director of robotics and autonomous systems at ASTM International; and Al Makke, director of engineering at Schaeffler. They will explore the technical and business challenges shaping the development of humanoids. The panel will also share insights from early deployments, the ongoing efforts to establish safety standards, and what’s on the horizon.

Aaron Saunders, CTO of Boston Dynamics, will give the opening keynote on Day 2 of the event. He will discuss the recently redesigned Atlas robot and his thoughts about the future of humanoids.

The Robotics Summit & Expo will bring together more than 5,000 developers focused on building robots for a variety of commercial industries. Attendees can gain insights into the latest enabling technologies, engineering best practices, and emerging trends.

The show will feature over 200 exhibitors, 70-plus speakers on stage, and more than 10 hours of dedicated networking time. It will also include a Women in Robotics Breakfast, a career fair, startup showcase, and more. Returning to the show are the RBR50 Pavilion and RBR50 Awards Dinner, which will honor the winners of the annual RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards.

Register today to save 40% on conference passes!

Editor’s note: Mike Oitzman contributed to this article.

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