Earlier this summer, humanoid robot maker Sanctuary AI announced that it had hit a 99.5%-plus success rate at a 2.54-second cycle time on a complex wire-plugging task at a global Tier 1 automotive supplier. The job: inserting flexible wired plugs into a moving target on a live conveyor. The workers: two disembodied hands reaching for wires, rotating them, and inserting into moving automotive targets. There are no humanoid robots in sight.
In other words, Sanctuary, which made both a body and a brain, is now learning that its brain – with some hands – is a very effective industrial worker.
The job is a challenging one, so it might just be the perfect job for a company whose former CEO Geordie Rose told me that “half of the complexity of the robot is in the hands.” It’s also an interesting pivot, or perhaps add-on: rather than wait for humanoid hardware to reach mass commercialization, Sanctuary is deploying its Physical AI inside existing commercial industrial processes and robots. That’s essentially a hardware-agnostic approach Sanctuary says is speeding industrial adoption today while laying the foundation for the next generation of intelligent robotic systems, including industrial humanoids. It’s also something pretty timely: this is exactly the sort of thing Meta is looking at using robots for in data centers.
“META IS TESTING robots that can plug in cables, reset servers, and handle other tasks inside its data centers, according to several current and former workers familiar with the projects,” a recent Wired story says.
Sounds like a very similar job, which reminded me of the Sanctuary story I wasn’t able to write at the time.
But I did follow up and get more details from the company’s new CEO, Daniel Friedmann, a former longtime chief executive at space robotics firm MDA and later Carbon Engineering, a clean energy company.
You can still find Phoenix, Sanctuary’s full humanoid robot, on the company website. Generation 8 of the platform offers a strong torso, arms, and head on a wheeled platform, with significant improvements in manufacturability and sensor data. But the top-line promise on the home page now says “physical AI for industrial automation,” and the images and videos with the highest prominence show arms and hands and grippers attached to or embedded within industrial production lines.
So is a pivot from humanoid robots to industrial automation? A side quest? Or just an early appetizer on the path for a full suite of robotic and automation tools for a wide variety of tasks?
I had a few questions. And Friedmann had some answers.
John Koetsier: How was the 99.5% success rate measured?
Daniel Friedmann: We tallied successful insertions against unsuccessful ones to calculate the overall success rate.
John Koetsier: Over how many production cycles was that performance achieved?
Daniel Friedmann: The test was for 40 minutes and included 313 plug insertion trials.
John Koetsier: How does the 2.54-second cycle time compare to human workers and existing automation?
Daniel Friedmann: This task has not been possible to automate with traditional methods. The 2.54-second cycle time was benchmarked against the customer’s existing line performance.
John Koetsier: Is this a strategic shift away from humanoids?
Daniel Friedmann: This represents an expanded approach to Physical AI and solving critical labor challenges. Our hardware-agnostic capabilities expedite industrial adoption of Physical AI, while building the foundation that will support the next generation of intelligent robotic systems, including industrial humanoids.
John Koetsier: Why deploy your AI on industrial robots instead of the Phoenix humanoid?
Daniel Friedmann: Rather than waiting for humanoid hardware to reach mass commercialization, we’re deploying Physical AI on existing commercial platforms today. This lets us deliver production-ready performance to customers now, while building toward the next generation of intelligent robotic systems, including industrial humanoids.
John Koetsier: What did building humanoids teach you that enabled this deployment?
Daniel Friedmann: Global industrial leaders are facing unprecedented labor shortages and increasing operational costs. When it comes to solving those challenges, function matters more than form.
John Koetsier: Do you consider Sanctuary primarily an AI company or a robotics company?
Daniel Friedmann: Sanctuary AI is a full-stack company: we’re developing both Physical AI and robotic hardware. We need access to the best hardware to train our Physical AI with the highest quality data, and we need highly capable Physical AI to utilize that hardware to its fullest extent. The relationship between hardware and Physical AI is symbiotic.
John Koetsier: Is this deployment already in production?
Daniel Friedmann: No, this is at the proof-of-concept stage.
John Koetsier: How broadly can this system be deployed across manufacturing tasks?
Daniel Friedmann: Our Physical AI is designed to handle the contact-rich, dexterity-intensive tasks that have historically been out of reach for traditional automation. For companies in manufacturing, logistics, and other labor-constrained industries, it’s deployable on existing robotic hardware today, giving customers production-ready performance and a clear path to the next generation of intelligent industrial systems.
John Koetsier: How long does it take a customer to deploy the technology?
Daniel Friedmann: Our goal is to deploy within a few weeks. Currently, the timelines vary based on the complexity of the task.
John Koetsier: What is the typical ROI for customers?
Daniel Friedmann: We are focused on maintaining customer throughput at a lower cost, but it’s too early to share specifics beyond that.
John Koetsier: Does the system work with existing robot hardware?
Daniel Friedmann: Yes. Our Physical AI can run on currently available industrial robots using both off-the-shelf end effectors and custom ones designed by our team. We also intend to support the next generations of intelligent robotic systems as they come to market, including industrial humanoids.
John Koetsier: Thank you for your time.