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Sanctuary AI, a Vancouver-based robotics and AI company, has achieved a breakthrough in robotics with its highly advanced dexterous robotic hands. These hands, featuring 21 degrees of freedom (DOF), enable intricate hand manipulation, a key development toward creating robots with human-like capabilities for tasks that require fine motor skills.
The company’s cutting-edge robotic hands utilize miniaturized hydraulic valve systems, which provide high power density. This innovation allows the robots to achieve faster, stronger, and more controlled movements. Additionally, the hydraulic system enhances durability, impact resistance, and heat management, setting new performance benchmarks for robotic hands, according to Interesting Engineering.
James Wells, interim CEO and Chief Commercial Officer at Sanctuary AI, emphasized in a statement that the ability to demonstrate in-hand manipulation with such a scalable and reliable system is a major milestone in the journey toward fully realized general-purpose humanoid robots. This advancement opens the door to a broader market for robots that can perform a wide array of tasks traditionally done by humans.
One of the standout features of Sanctuary’s robotic hands is the use of hydraulic actuators. These actuators offer exceptional precision—enabling millimeter-level finger movements—while maintaining low power consumption and longevity. The miniaturized hydraulic valves, which are about the size of a coin, have been rigorously tested for over two billion cycles without any signs of wear or leakage, making them both durable and reliable. The system operates at low pressure,and uses food-safe oil, ensuring safety for various applications.
In terms of performance, Sanctuary’s hydraulic actuators are 50 times faster and six times more cost-effective than traditional electric actuators. These developments are positioning Sanctuary’s humanoid robots for industrial tasks and other important applications.
The company’s ongoing advancements also complement its work on the Phoenix humanoid robot, which has recently seen significant upgrades. The synergy between improved dexterity and the enhanced AI control system, Carbon, will allow Phoenix to interact more naturally with its environment, further advancing Sanctuary’s vision of human-like robots.
