Sanctuary Phoenix is a series of general purpose humanoid robots developed since 2022 by Sanctuary AI, a Canadian company headquartered in Vancouver. Eight hardware generations had been unveiled by May 2026. Phoenix's key differentiator is the proprietary Carbon™ AI control system, which mimics human brain subsystems — memory, sight, sound and touch — enabling the robot to learn new tasks from teleoperation data.
The eighth generation Phoenix (December 2024) features a wheeled base — a design change driven by customer feedback that bipedal legs are too fragile to support the strong torso required for industrial work. The robot is equipped with five-fingered hydraulic hands with 21 degrees of freedom each, capable of in-hand manipulation — a unique property of hydraulic actuation which offers higher power density than cable or electromechanical systems.
Sanctuary AI has commercially deployed Phoenix in automotive and logistics sectors. The company is ranked third globally for humanoid-related patent filings (Morgan Stanley, 2025) and collaborates with Microsoft to accelerate AI development for general purpose robots.
Gen 5 was the first commercial deployment (January 2023). Gen 6 earned a TIME Best Inventions 2023 nomination. Gen 7 (April 2024) was bipedal — improved wrists, hands, elbows, 50× faster task automation. Gen 8 (December 2024) switched to wheeled base, improved depth and vision cameras, telemetry, and tactile sensors.
Dimensions, weight and structural proportions
