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Building human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots
HQ: Vancouver, BC, Canada | Founded: 2018 | Employees: ~145 (2026, +25% YoY) | Stage: Early Stage VC (Series A+ / strategic rounds) | Website: https://www.sanctuary.ai
Sanctuary AI was founded in 2018 in Vancouver by Geordie Rose (co-founder of D-Wave Systems and Kindred AI), Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton, and Ajay Agrawal, with the audacious mission of creating 'the world's first human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots.' Unlike industrial-robot arms, Sanctuary attacked the hardest problem first: a bipedal general-purpose humanoid with human-scale dexterity.
The Phoenix humanoid (Gen 6, May 2023) stood 5'7", weighed 155 lbs, and featured ~20-degree-of-freedom hydraulic hands with tactile sensing. In January 2023 Sanctuary achieved the first commercial deployment of a general-purpose humanoid: Phoenix performing stocking, folding, and 110 retail tasks at a Mark's/Canadian Tire location in Langley, BC. Gen 7 (April 2024) learned new tasks in un
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