Sanctuary AI
Sanctuary AI is a Vancouver company that built the Phoenix general-purpose humanoid, controlled by its Carbon AI system, and is known for hydraulically actuated dexterous hands with tactile sensing. It ran the first commercial humanoid pilot at a Canadian Tire–owned Mark's store in 2023 and later partnered with Magna. In June 2026 it widened its strategy to run its 'Physical AI' on existing industrial robot arms rather than wait for humanoid hardware, and it also offers a 17-DOF hydraulic robotic hand.
4 humanoid models · 3 deployments on file · researched 2026-11-08
- Headquarters
- Vancouver, Canada
- Founded
- 2018
- Ownership
- Private
- Website
- sanctuary.ai
- Focus
- industrial, retail, logistics
- Leadership
- Daniel Friedmann Chief Executive Officer and Chairman ↗
Olivia Norton Co-Founder, Chief Engineering & Ops Officer, Director ↗
Ajay Agrawal Co-Founder, Director ↗
Geordie Rose Co-Founder and former CEO (left the CEO role November 2024) ↗ - Last round
- strategic investment (Zeon Ventures) · 2026-05
- Investors
- Bell, Canadian Tire Corporation, Evok Innovations, Export Development Canada, Magna, SE Health, Verizon Ventures, Workday Ventures, Accenture, BDC Capital (Thrive Venture Fund), InBC Investment Corp., Zeon Ventures
1
Humanoids
Each model as the maker has shown it. Specs are maker-stated; a dash means no source states the figure.
| Model | Status | Announced | Height | Weight | DoF | Payload | Runtime | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General-purpose robot (Generation 5) ↗Fifth-generation robot, first deployed commercially in January 2023 in a week-long retail pilot (110 tasks) | Pilot | 2023-01 | — | — | — | — | — | not published |
| Phoenix (Generation 8) wheeled ↗Built for high-quality data capture (better depth/vision cameras, telemetry); wheeled base chosen because customers said bipedal legs are too frail to support a strong working torso; lower bill of materials | Prototype | 2024-12 | — | — | — | — | — | not published |
| Phoenix (Generation 7) ↗More wrist/hand/elbow range of motion, further miniaturized hydraulics, better uptime and tactile sensing; company says time to automate a new task fell from weeks to under 24 hours | Prototype | 2024-04 | — | — | — | — | — | not published |
| Phoenix (Generation 6) ↗Source states 5'7", 155 lbs, max payload 55 lbs, max speed 3 mph (converted here); hands with 20 degrees of freedom in total and proprietary haptics; first robot powered by Carbon; on TIME's Best Inventions of 2023 | Prototype | 2023-05 | 170 cm | 70 kg | — | 25 kg | — | not published |
2
Deployments
Named customers, what the robots do there, and how far it has gone.
| Customer | What | When | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Tire Corporation (Mark's store, Langley, BC) ↗ | Week-long pilot of a general-purpose robot in a retail store; 110 retail tasks completed (picking, packing, cleaning, tagging, labelling, folding) | 2023-01 | Pilot |
| Magna ↗ | Strategic partnership to develop general-purpose AI robots for deployment in Magna's manufacturing operations, plus a cost/scalability assessment and an equity investment | 2024-04 | Trial |
| Unnamed global Tier 1 automotive supplier ↗ | Wire-harness plug insertion on a moving conveyor using Sanctuary's Physical AI on an industrial robot system (not Phoenix): 99.5%+ success at 2.54 s cycle time; company says it led to its first commercial purchase order | 2026 | Order |
3
Dated facts
Milestones, orders, factories and filings, newest first.
- 2026-06Board appointed chairman Daniel Friedmann (former CEO of MDA and Carbon Engineering) as CEO, replacing James Wells. ↗
- 2026-06Expanded strategy to deploy its Physical AI on existing industrial robot platforms rather than wait for humanoid mass commercialization; company cites 80+ granted US patents and 250+ global patent assets. ↗
- 2026-05Zeon Corporation, through Zeon Ventures, invested in and partnered with Sanctuary AI on elastomeric materials for dexterous robot hands. ↗
- 2025-04Techcouver, citing The Logic, reported Sanctuary was seeking a US$175 million round, including selling its majority stake in Apptronik (bought for US$10M in 2022) for up to US$125M, and planned to acquire Rapid Robotics; outcome not confirmed. ↗
- 2024-12Demonstrated in-hand manipulation with 21-DOF hydraulic hands; said its hydraulic valve actuators had been tested over 2 billion cycles without leakage or degradation. ↗
- 2024-11Co-founder Geordie Rose left the CEO role and James Wells became interim CEO; Techcouver, citing The Logic, reported that layoffs affected 'upwards of 30 people'. ↗
- 2024-07Strategic investment from BDC Capital's Thrive Venture Fund and InBC brought total investment to 'over $140 million to date' (currency not stated). ↗
- 2024-05Collaboration with Microsoft on AI models for general-purpose robots; Sanctuary uses Azure for training and inference. Company said its robots had been tested on 400 customer-defined tasks across 15 industries. ↗
- 2024-03Accenture made a strategic investment in Sanctuary AI (announced March 27, 2024). ↗
- 2023-12Acquired touch and grasping IP, including assets acquired from Giant.AI and the acquisition of Tangible Research. ↗
- 2022-11Received a C$30 million Strategic Innovation Fund contribution from the Government of Canada, taking total funding to over C$100 million. ↗
- 2022-03Closed an oversubscribed C$75.5 million (US$58.5 million) Series A; investors included Bell, Evok Innovations, Export Development Canada, Magna, SE Health, Verizon Ventures and Workday Ventures. ↗
4
Not yet confirmed
Claims seen in only one non-official place. Shown so they can be checked, not as findings.
- Headcount of ~163 (Tracxn data via robotics-press.pages.dev search snippet); 150-200 (distillintelligence.com) — no company figure found
- Valuation estimates: ~US$500M tied to an April 2026 round (caplight.com estimate); US$393-425M July 2024 (cbinsights.com) — search snippets only, not fetched
- Whether the 2025 Apptronik stake sale, US$175M round and Rapid Robotics acquisition closed — reported only via The Logic (secondhand through Techcouver/Decoder); no confirmation found
- August 2026 report (Startup Fortune, via search snippet) that Sanctuary is betting on licensing its AI rather than building hardware
S
Sources
Retrieved 2026-11-08.
- Sanctuary AI Unveils Phoenix - A Humanoid General-Purpose Robot Designed for Work — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Unveils the Next Generation of AI Robotics — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Releases New Generation of AI Robots for High Quality Data Capture — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Deploys First Humanoid General-Purpose Robot Commercially — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Expands General Purpose Robot Footprint in Automotive Manufacturing Industry — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Closes C$75.5 Million (US$58.5 Million) Series A Funding — Sanctuary AI
- SIF Contribution - A $30 Million Investment in Canada's Future — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Acquires Key IP Assets Related to Touch and Grasping — Sanctuary AI
- A Transformational Few Months for Sanctuary AI — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Announces Microsoft Collaboration to Accelerate AI Development for General Purpose Robots — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Announces Strategic Financing From BDC Capital and InBC — Sanctuary AI
- Company Leadership Update — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Demonstrates In-Hand Manipulation Capabilities — Sanctuary AI
- Zeon Invests in Sanctuary AI and Partners to Advance Specialized Materials for Dexterous Robotics — Sanctuary AI (Zeon release)
- Daniel Friedmann Appointed CEO of Sanctuary AI — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI Expands Physical AI Strategy to Industrial Robotics — Sanctuary AI
- Milestone Roadmap — Sanctuary AI
- Meet the Team | Leadership — Sanctuary AI
- Robotic Hands Built for Industry — Sanctuary AI
- Sanctuary AI validates physical AI performance at Tier 1 automotive supplier — The Robot Report
- Sanctuary AI Sheds Staff Following the 'Sudden, Unexpected' Departure of CEO — Techcouver
- Sanctuary AI is Pushing to Raise US$175M in Capital — Techcouver