Latest news with #PollenRobotics
TechCrunch
3 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Hugging Face says its new robotics model is so efficient it can run on a MacBook
It's becoming a little easier to build sophisticated robotics projects at home. AI dev platform Hugging Face released earlier this week an open AI model for robotics called SmolVLA. Trained on 'compatibly licensed,' community-shared datasets, SmolVLA outperforms much larger models for robotics in both virtual and real-world environments, Hugging Face claims. 'SmolVLA aims to democratize access to vision-language-action [VLA] models and accelerate research toward generalist robotic agents,' writes Hugging Face in a blog post. 'SmolVLA is not only a lightweight yet capable model, but also a method for training and evaluating generalist robotics [technologies].' SmolVLA is a part of Hugging Face's rapidly expanding effort to establish an ecosystem of low-cost robotics hardware and software. Last year, the company launched LeRobot, a collection of robotics-focused models, datasets, and tools. More recently, Hugging Face acquired Pollen Robotics, a robotics startup based in France, and unveiled several inexpensive robotics systems, including humanoids, for purchase. SmolVLA, which is 450 million parameters in size, was trained on data from LeRobot Community Datasets, specially-marked robotics datasets shared on Hugging Face's AI development platform. Parameters, sometimes referred to as weights, are the internal components of a model that guide its behavior. Hugging Face claims that SmolVLA is small enough to run on a single consumer GPU — or even a MacBook — and can be tested and deployed on 'affordable' hardware, including the company's own robotics systems. In an interesting twist, SmolVLA also supports an 'asynchronous inference stack,' which Hugging Face says allows the model to separate the processing of a robot's actions from the processing of what it sees and hears. As the company explains in its blog post, '[b]ecause of this separation, robots can respond more quickly in fast-changing environments.' Techcrunch event Save now through June 4 for TechCrunch Sessions: AI Save $300 on your ticket to TC Sessions: AI—and get 50% off a second. Hear from leaders at OpenAI, Anthropic, Khosla Ventures, and more during a full day of expert insights, hands-on workshops, and high-impact networking. These low-rate deals disappear when the doors open on June 5. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW SmolVLA is available for download from Hugging Face. Already, a user on X claims to have used the model to control a third-party robotic arm: 🚀 SmolVLA — feels like a BERT moment for robotics 🤖 I tried it on the Koch Arm: Inference on RTX 2050 (4GB), fine-tuned with just 31 demos, and matches/outperforms single-task baselines 🔥 Big thanks to @RemiCadene @danaubakirova @mustash97 @francesco__capu 🙌 — Xingdong Zuo (@XingdongZ) June 4, 2025 It's worth noting that Hugging Face is far from the only player in the nascent open robotics race. Nvidia has a collection of tools for open robotics, and startup K-Scale Labs is building the components for what it's calling 'open-source humanoids.' Other formidable firms in the segment include Dyna Robotics, Jeff Bezos-backed Physical Intelligence, and RLWRLD.
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
The Strategy Behind Hugging Face's Acquisition Of Pollen Robotics
Reachy 2 In April 2025, Hugging Face acquired Pollen Robotics, a France-based company that develops humanoid robots, including Reachy 2. This marks a milestone in the convergence of generative AI and robotics, known as physical AI. This article analyzes the strategic reasons behind Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics. Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics demonstrates a long-term vision for the future of AI technology, as it evolves from digital intelligence to physical form. The strategy is based on three core pillars: 1) Vertical integration of the AI-to-robotics stack 2) Ecosystem leverage through their massive developer community 3) Timing advantage as foundation models become capable of controlling physical systems. The acquisition gives Hugging Face immediate access to Pollen's flagship Reachy 2 humanoid robot, a $70,000 research platform already deployed at prestigious institutions such as Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon. With 7 degrees of freedom, bio-inspired arms capable of handling 3 kg payloads, advanced VR teleoperation and fully open-source hardware designs, the Pollen Robotics Reachy 2 offers a proven platform for Hugging Face to build upon instead of starting from scratch. The timing proves particularly strategic given several converging factors. Nvidia recently chose Hugging Face as the preferred platform for its GR00T N1 humanoid robot foundation models, signalling industry recognition of Hugging Face's platform capabilities. Meanwhile, the remarkable growth of Hugging Face's LeRobot library to over 12,000 GitHub stars in just 12 months demonstrated strong developer demand for open robotics tools. The acquisition also follows Hugging Face's strategic hire of Remi Cadene, a former Tesla Optimus engineer, who now leads their robotics division. While Hugging Face has emerged as the largest collection of open-source and open-weight models, Pollen Robotics focuses on the vision of open hardware for robotics. This acquisition combines the strengths of open-source software with open hardware design in the field of robotics. The embodied AI market has reached an inflection point where theoretical capabilities meet practical applications, driven by breakthroughs in foundation models for robotics and dramatic cost reductions in hardware components. AI models such as Pi0 from Hugging Face, Nvidia's GR00T N1 and Google's Gemini Robotics extend the power of generative AI to robotics. Instead of generating text or media content, these models are trained to send commands directly to the robotic hardware. They leverage multimodal AI by combining video content and policies to generate commands that control robots. The combination of Hugging Face's AI infrastructure and Pollen's robotics expertise creates technical synergies that neither company could achieve independently. Hugging Face brings 1.5 million models and datasets hosted on its platform, proven infrastructure serving 12 petabytes of data, and deep expertise in transformer architectures and diffusion models. This AI foundation provides the intelligence layer essential for next-generation robotics. Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics represents more than a product expansion. It marks a fundamental shift in how AI and robotics will evolve together. By combining proven AI infrastructure with capable robotics hardware under an open-source philosophy, Hugging Face creates unique value that neither pure software nor pure hardware companies can replicate. The broader implications extend beyond corporate strategy. If Hugging Face succeeds in democratizing robotics as they've democratized AI, we may see an explosion of innovation similar to what followed the open-sourcing of deep learning frameworks.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hugging Face unveils two new humanoid robots
AI dev platform Hugging Face continued its push into robotics on Thursday with the release of two new humanoid robots. The company announced a pair of open-source robots, HopeJR and Reachy Mini. HopeJR is a full-size humanoid robot that has 66 actuated degrees of freedom, or 66 independent movements, including the ability to walk and move its arms. Reachy Mini is a desktop unit that can move its head, talk, listen, and be used to test AI apps. Hugging Face doesn't have an exact timeline for shipping these robots. The company's co-founder and CEO, Clem Delangue, told TechCrunch over email that they expect to start shipping at least the first few units by the end of the year, and the waitlist is currently open. Hugging Face estimates that the HopeJR will cost around $3,000 per unit and the Reachy Mini will cost around $250-$300, depending on tariffs. "The important aspect is that these robots are open source, so anyone can assemble, rebuild, [and] understand how they work, and [that they're] affordable, so that robotics doesn't get dominated by just a few big players with dangerous black-box systems," Delangue said via email. This robot release was made possible in part by the company's acquisition of humanoid robotics startup Pollen Robotics, which was announced in April, according to Delangue. He added that the Pollen team gave Hugging Face "new capabilities" required to make these bots. Hugging Face has been making a concerted push into the robotics industry over the past few years. It launched LeRobot, a collection of open AI models, data sets, and tools to build robotics systems, in 2024. So far in 2025, the company has released an updated version of its 3D-printed and programmable robotic arm, the SO-101, which the company built in a partnership with French robotics firm The Robot Studio. It also expanded the training data on its LeRobot platform, through a partnership with AI startup Yaak, to include training data for self-driving machines. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Fox News
18-04-2025
- Science
- Fox News
Can this $70,000 robot transform AI research?
The folks at Hugging Face, the open-source artificial intelligence gurus, just jumped into the world of robotics by acquiring Pollen Robotics. And right out of the gate, they are offering the Reachy 2, a super-interesting humanoid robot designed as a "lab partner for the AI era." Ready to dive in and see what all the buzz is about? So, what makes Reachy 2 stand out? Well, first off, it's a state-of-the-art humanoid robot already making waves in labs like Cornell and Carnegie Mellon. It's designed to be friendly and approachable, inviting natural interaction. This robot is open-source and VR-compatible, perfect for research, education and experimenting with embodied AI. The innovative Orbita joint system gives Reachy 2's neck and wrists smooth, multi-directional movement, making it remarkably expressive. Reachy 2 also features human-inspired arms. Its mobile base, equipped with omni wheels and lidar, allows for seamless navigation, and the VR teleoperation feature lets you literally see through the robot's eyes! Finally, its open-source nature fosters collaboration and customization, with Pollen Robotics providing a ton of resources on their Hugging Face organization. This humanoid robot combines advanced vision, audio and actuator systems for cutting-edge AI interaction and teleoperation. Here's a quick look at what Reachy 2 brings to the table. Standing between 4.46 and 5.45 feet tall and weighing in at 110 pounds, it features bio-inspired arms with 7 degrees of freedom, capable of handling payloads up to 6.6 pounds. It's also equipped with a parallel torque-controlled gripper and multiple cameras for depth perception, plus a high-quality audio system. Navigating its environment is a breeze thanks to its omnidirectional mobile base. When it comes to perception, Reachy 2 has a vision module in its head with dual RGB cameras and a Time-of-Flight module for depth measurement. There's also an RGB-D camera in its torso for accurate depth sensing. Immersive stereo perception is achieved through microphones in Reachy's antennas. For interaction, Reachy 2 has custom-built speakers with a high-quality amplifier and a Rode AI-Micro audio interface. Its expressive head is powered by an Orbita system, and it has motorized antennas for enhanced human-robot interaction. Reachy 2's manipulation capabilities stem from its Orbita 3D and 2D parallel mechanisms, along with a Dynamixel-based parallel gripper that features torque control. Controlling Reachy 2 is a Solidrun Bedrock v3000 unit, with AI processing handled on external hardware. Finally, the mobile base includes omnidirectional wheels, Hall sensors and IMU, an RP Lidar S2 and a LiFePO₄ Battery. Getting your hands on Reachy 2 will cost you $70,000, a price that reflects its cutting-edge robotics and AI components and open-source capabilities, making it a serious investment for researchers and educators looking to push the boundaries of human-robot interaction. So, what does Hugging Face scooping up Pollen Robotics really mean? Well, it could signal a big push toward making robotics more accessible. Think of it this way: Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf and chief scientist at Hugging Face says, "We believe robotics could be the next frontier unlocked by AI, and it should be open, affordable, and private." Matthieu Lapeyre, Pollen Robotics co-founder, echoes this sentiment: "Hugging Face is a natural home for us to grow, as we share a common goal: putting AI and robotics in the hands of everyone." Hugging Face's acquisition of Pollen Robotics represents its fifth acquisition after Gradio and Xethub. This move solidifies Hugging Face's commitment to open-source AI and its vision for a future where AI and robotics are accessible to all. Bottom line? Hugging Face is making moves. Who knows, maybe one day we'll all have our own Reachy to help with the chores (or just keep us company). Either way, the collaboration between Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics is definitely worth keeping an eye on. If you could use a robot like Reachy 2 for any purpose, what would it be and why? Let us know by writing us at For more of my tech tips and security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Follow Kurt on his social channels: Answers to the most-asked CyberGuy questions: New from Kurt: Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Open Source Humanoid Robots: Hugging Face Buys Pollen Robotics
Reachy 2 is an open source humanoid robot from Pollen Robotics, which was just bought by Hugging ... More Face. The open source AI community Hugging Face has bought open source humanoid robots company Pollen Robots, Hugging Face announced this morning. That's great news for pretty much every country that is not the USA or China, the two nations that lead the world in humanoid robotics startups and innovation. 'Super happy to announce that we are acquiring Pollen Robotics to bring open-source robots to the world,' Hugging Face said on X. 'Since Remi Cadene joined us from Tesla, we've become the most widely used software platform for open robotics thanks to LeRobotHF and the Hugging Face Hub. Now, we're taking it a step further by teaming up with Pollen, who is one of the only companies in the world that actually ships open-source humanoid robots!' Pollen Robotics currently offers Reachy 2, a roughly humanoid robot that anyone can buy today for $70,000. It's a rudimentary model right now that does not walk but moves on a wheeled mobile base or can be fixed in position. It does have advanced robotic arms with seven degrees of freedom for complex manipulation of objects, but only a 3 kilogram/6.6 pound lifting capacity per arm. Reachy 2 can be teleoperated with VR equipment, is fully open source, can be programmed in Python, and comes in multiple models with varying capability, but it's best seen as a proof of concept right now. It's certainly nowhere near the level of commercial models like 4NE-1 from Neura Robotics, Apollo from Apptronik, Figure 02 from Figure, Optimus from Tesla, or Digit from Agility Robotics. Nor would Reachy 2 vault Pollen Robotics on to this list of the top 16 humanoid robot manufacturers on the planet. But this deal is still significant. Humanoid robots are advancing in leaps and bounds. Credible industry observers see them as adding serious value to the workforce in a fairly short period of time: years not decades. If that does in fact occur, nations and companies that own and/or adopt these kinds of technologies will be significantly more competitive than those who do not. Over time and with mass manufacturing, the price of labor could approach zero, which fundamentally disrupts current economic and social models. Having open source humanoid robots could be a very valuable resource to those who do not develop the technology themselves. We've seen it before in software with Linux; it's theoretically possible in a hardware world as well. 'We believe robotics could be the next interface for AI — and it should be open, affordable, and hackable,' says Hugging Face. 'Our vision: a future where everyone from the community can build and control their own robot companions instead of relying on closed, expensive black boxes.' That's especially important if the alternative is that you acquire robots from a potentially unfriendly nation that leaves a backdoor in their robots which can turn them into surveillance devices for that nation, as recently appears to have happened with Unitree Robotics's robot dog Go-1. According to MSN, Hugging Face co-founder and chief scientist Thomas Wolf would like to make Reachy 2 (or Reachy 5, or 10) fully open source so that anyone could download schematics for the robot and potentially even 3D print their own. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but it appears that Pollen's entire team of about 20 will be joining Hugging Face, including Pollen's two co-founders, Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanet.
