French robotics-focused start-up Genesis AI has released its first foundational model, GENE-26.5, along with a human-like hand built in-house that’s capable of carrying out complex tasks such as cooking or solving a Rubik’s Cube.

The company, which completed a $105 million (£77.2m) seed funding round in July of last year, began with a focus on a model to power real-world robotics, then built its own hand in order to have more accurate control over the full stack, said co-founder and chief executive Zhou Xian.

Unlike robotic hands built by dozens of other companies, which tend to have two or three fingers, the unit from Genesis AI closely resembles a human appendage, allowing data to be more directly transferred to the device.

Genesis has also created lightweight sensor gloves that can be worn by workers in fields such as pharmaceuticals or manufacturing, capturing data that can be passed along to the AI model – although whether workers would be happy to help train a potential robotic replacement remains in question.

Data from the gloves can be combined with information gleaned from videos of workers carrying out tasks, Genesis said.

In a demonstration video, Genesis showed a pair of its hands carrying out complex or delicate processes such as preparing a smoothie or playing the piano.

Co-founder and president Theophile Gervet previously worked for France’s Mistral, and the company retains a substantial presence in Europe that it attributed to the continent’s large talent base and potential market of industrial customers.

It said its team of 60 people is split roughly evenly between the US and Europe, with a slightly larger group in the US base in California.

In addition to San Carlos, California, it has offices in Paris and London.

The company said it is working to supplement the mechanical hand with a full-body, general purpose robot.

The seed funding round last year was co-led by Eclipse and Khosla Ventures, with additional backing from Bpifrance, HSG, former Google chief Eric Schmidt, telecoms entrepreneur Xavier Niel, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory director Daniela Rus and Apple distinguished scientist Vladlen Koltun.