US multinational professional services company Accenture, through its funding arm, has invested in Sanctuary AI, a Canadian based AI robotics company to bring AI-powered, humanoid robotics into workplaces alongside humans.
Sanctuary AI’s latest general-purpose robot PhoenixTM is reportedly capable of performing a multitude of work tasks including choosing and packing merchandise, and correctly cleaning, tagging, labelling and folding items.
The robot’s dextrous robotic hands rival human hand dexterity and fine manipulation and, Scantuary AI has claimed, are able to adjust grip strength relative to object hardness in real-time situations (with the aide of the robot’s onboard sensors).
PhoenixTM is powered by the company’s AI control system, CarbonTM, which mimics subsystems found in the human brain, such as memory, sight, sound and touch, and translates natural language into action in the real world.
Accenture’s global advanced automation and robotics lead, Joe Lui, said: “AI-powered humanoid robots are essential to reinventing work and supporting human workers as labor shortage is becoming an issue in many countries and industries.
“Sanctuary AI’s advanced AI platform trains robots to react to their environment and perform new tasks with precision in a very short time.
“We see huge potential for their robots in post and parcel, manufacturing, retail and logistics warehousing operations, where they could complement and collaborate with human workers and automate tasks that traditional robotics can’t.”
