Hugging Face has announced two new robots designed to boost its presence in the robotics sector. The company revealed both HopeJR, a humanoid robot capable of 66 independent movements, and Reachy Mini, a compact desktop model built for testing artificial intelligence applications.
HopeJR can walk and move its arms, standing as a full size robot with a versatile range of motion. Reachy Mini offers head movement, speech, listening abilities, and can easily be used for research or software development.
Robots Built with Open Design
Shipping dates for both models are still being determined, but Hugging Face expects the first units could reach customers before the year ends. An open waitlist has been launched to accommodate early interest from the robotics community.
Pricing is expected to start at about three thousand dollars for HopeJR, while Reachy Mini could be available for around two hundred fifty to three hundred dollars, depending on location and tariffs. CEO Clem Delangue has emphasized that making these robots open source and affordable is central to the company’s strategy, aiming to prevent the market from being controlled by a handful of large companies operating secretive systems.
The new robots are a result of the company’s acquisition of robotics startup Pollen Robotics earlier this year. Delangue has credited the Pollen team with giving Hugging Face fresh abilities necessary to make these devices a reality.
Hugging Face has been moving into robotics steadily, with the introduction of its open-source robotics initiative earlier in 2024. The platform offers a collection of artificial intelligence models, datasets, and software tools for building a wide range of robots.
In addition to the latest robots, Hugging Face has also updated its programmable robotic arm, the SO 101, through a partnership with French company The Robot Studio. Expanded machine learning training sets from a collaboration with AI startup Yaak have been added to LeRobot’s available resources, including data geared toward self driving systems.
By making advanced robotics hardware and open tools available more broadly, the company continues to focus on a wider adoption of robotics research and development across academic, business, and hobbyist communities.
