Sanctuary Cognitive Systems, a company working on developing human-like intelligence in general-purpose robotics, announced that it has raised $58.5 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round.
Bell, Evok Innovations, Export Development Canada, Magna, SE Health, Verizon Ventures, and Workday Ventures contributed to the round.
Sanctuary is working on developing human-like intelligence for robots
"At Verizon Ventures, we believe that breakthrough ideas require extraordinary support and execution," said Michelle McCarthy, general manager of Verizon Ventures. "Sanctuary's novel approach and progress sets them apart as they look to build tomorrow's transformative innovations with the potential to reinvent the wheel. Shape the future of work."
While many companies are developing robots and artificial intelligence (AI) for specific purposes, Sanctuary is trying to create a general-purpose robot with human-like intelligence. The cognitive architecture of Sanctuary's humanoid robots is created by mimicking the subsystems in the human brain. According to the company, this breaks down the challenges of developing the system into smaller, more manageable pieces.
Geordie Rose, co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary, said: "With unfilled vacancies, workplace safety concerns, increasing employee turnover, an aging population worldwide, and a decline in workplace engagement Down, one thing is clear: many labor-related challenges are beyond the scope of current dedicated AI and robotics, and we are addressing a systemic problem across the global economy. The investor community is excited. With interest from clients representing more than a dozen different industry verticals, we are working to make jobs safer, more accessible and ultimately more productive."
Sanctuary was founded in 2018 by Rose, Suzanne Gildert, Olivia Norton and Ajay Agrawal. The company is located in Vancouver, Canada. The company hopes its robots can be used to fill labor shortages and ultimately help people explore, settle and prosper in outer space.
Concurrent with the funding, Sanctuary announced that Anousheh Ansari, the first female private space explorer, and Chris Hadfield, a former astronaut and International Space Station commander, will join the Sanctuary Advisory Board.