Building general-purpose robots with human-like intelligence — the Carbon AI cognitive architecture for AGI.
Sanctuary AI is a Vancouver-based artificial general intelligence and robotics company with a singular mission: create the world's first human-like artificial intelligence in robotic form. Founded in 2018 by Geordie Rose and Suzanne Gildert, Sanctuary's approach is philosophically distinct — it builds robots not just to automate tasks, but to understand the world as humans do.
The company's Carbon AI cognitive architecture is designed as a model of human general intelligence: it reasons about goals, learns from experience, plans multi-step solutions, and transfers knowledge across domains. This AGI-first approach means Phoenix robots improve continuously across all tasks simultaneously, rather than being retrained for each new job.
Phoenix Gen 8, released in early 2025, features industry-leading hand dexterity with 20+ degrees of freedom, enabling zero-shot in-hand manipulation — the ability to handle objects it has never seen before. Sanctuary's approach has attracted enterprise partners including Accenture, Magna International, and Microsoft, and earned it a top-3 ranking in humanoid patent filings per Morgan Stanley.
Sanctuary AI launches Phoenix Gen 8 featuring significantly improved dexterous hands with 20+ degrees of freedom, enabling tasks that previously required human manipulation.
Read Full Article →Sanctuary AI publishes research demonstrating Phoenix Gen 8's ability to manipulate completely novel objects with no prior training — a key milestone toward general-purpose robotic intelligence.
Read Full Article →Morgan Stanley's robotics research report ranks Sanctuary AI #3 globally for humanoid robotics patent filings, behind only Boston Dynamics and Tesla, validating its deep IP portfolio.
Read Full Article →
Phoenix Gen 8 is Sanctuary's most capable robot, featuring the latest iteration of the Carbon AI cognitive architecture for AGI-level task understanding. Its 20+ DoF hands can perform zero-shot in-hand manipulation — handling novel objects without prior training. Hot-swap batteries enable continuous operation, and the robot's form factor is optimized for existing human workplaces in retail, automotive, and healthcare.
| Height | 170 cm |
| Weight | 70 kg |
| Hand Degrees of Freedom | 20+ per hand |
| Max Speed | 1.34 m/s |
| Payload Capacity | 25 kg |
| Battery Life | 4 hours (hot-swap) |
| AI Platform | Carbon AI (AGI Cognitive Architecture) |
| Use Cases | Retail, Automotive, Manufacturing, Healthcare |
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