“The best robotic hands in the world” appear in a surprising humanoid robot called phoenixmanufactured by the company Sanctuary AI. Is it the definitive replacement for humans?
It may be too early to say this, but the reality is that achieving human dexterity in the hands of a robot is a giant step. Emulating the movements that people make until now had been practically impossible for engineering, science and technology.
The hands have hundreds of motor modalities and functions that are trained during people’s growth. In fact, there are cases where adult humans learn new movements with their upper limbs, which they never saw as children.
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According to what you review New AtlasPhoenix’s robotic hands move much faster than those of robots developed by Tesla or Figureleaders in the market until now.
Sanctuary AI is a Canadian company. In addition to incorporating artificial intelligence into its devices, it is accelerating the race to develop humanoid robots so that they can become assistants for people in work or home environments.
The closest Phoenix comes to being a humanoid is his torso, which has two arms with hands that he is capable of working with. He is perched on a wheeled base, which makes him far from a bipedal being like people.
Powered by Carbon, Phoenix is now autonomously completing simple tasks at human-equivalent speed. This is an important step on the journey to full autonomy. Phoenix is unique among humanoids in its speed, precision, and strength, all critical for industrial applications. pic.twitter.com/bYlsKBYw3i
— Geordie Rose (@realgeordierose) February 28, 2024
“Phoenix’s hands are hydraulically powered unlike the electric motors of others like Optimus and the Figure 01. We went to hydraulics and there are disadvantages, they leak and are very expensive. But it is the only technology that provides us with a combination of three factors that are very important: obviously precision, but also speed and strength,” said Suzanne Gildert, co-founder and chief technology officer of Sanctuary, in an interview with the aforementioned media.
“If you see a robot doing something really skillful like threading a needle, or pushing a button or something, you have to ask yourself: Could that hand also lift a 50-pound suitcase?” And could it also move? Fast enough to, say, type on a keyboard? Usually people only show one of these three factors, but the ultimate hand needs to have all three. Currently, hydraulic technology is the only one that can achieve all three,” highlighted Gildert.
“I think the one we have built is the latest. The best robotic hand in the world. But there’s probably also a lot of research you can do with a simpler hand.”