Hugging Face launches $299 desktop robot to democratize AI development

Hugging Face has launched Reachy Mini, a $299 desktop robot designed to democratize AI-powered robotics development for its 10 million platform users. The 11-inch humanoid companion represents the company’s boldest hardware expansion since acquiring French robotics startup Pollen Robotics in April, directly challenging the industry’s traditional high-cost, closed-source model with radical transparency and affordability.

What you should know: Reachy Mini packs sophisticated AI capabilities into an affordable desktop form factor that integrates natively with Hugging Face’s development ecosystem.

• The robot features six degrees of freedom in its moving head, full body rotation, animated antennas, wide-angle camera, multiple microphones, and a 5-watt speaker.
• Ships as a DIY kit programmable in Python, with JavaScript and Scratch support planned.
• Pre-installed applications include face and hand tracking, smart companion features, and dancing moves.
• Developers can create and share new applications through Hugging Face’s Spaces platform, potentially creating “thousands, tens of thousands, millions of apps.”

The big picture: The launch signals Hugging Face’s ambition to become the dominant platform for AI development across all modalities, not just text and image generation, as the industry grapples with physical AI as the next frontier.

• Goldman Sachs projects the humanoid robotics market could reach $38 billion by 2035.
• The timing appears deliberate as industry leaders increasingly believe artificial intelligence needs physical embodiment to achieve human-level capabilities.
• CEO Clément Delangue revealed that “more and more” of their AI builders are working on robotics projects.

Why this matters: The move could fundamentally alter robotics industry dynamics by applying open-source principles to hardware development, potentially accelerating innovation while reducing costs.

• Traditional robotics systems cost $70,000, while newer humanoid robots like Tesla’s Optimus are expected to cost $20,000-$30,000.
• At $299, Reachy Mini costs less than many smartphones while providing full programmability and AI integration.
• The open-source approach allows users to inspect code, understand data flows, and potentially run AI models locally rather than relying on cloud services.

How the open-source hardware model works: Hugging Face plans to release all hardware designs, software, and assembly instructions as open source while monetizing through convenience.

• Anyone can build their own version using open-source designs and instructions.
• The company sells pre-assembled units to developers who prefer to pay rather than build from scratch.
• “You try to share as much as possible to really empower the community,” Delangue explained. “There are people who, even if they have all the recipes open source to build their own Reachy Mini, would prefer to pay 300 bucks, 500 bucks, and get it already ready.”

Competitive landscape: Reachy Mini enters a rapidly evolving robotics market with a fundamentally different approach than established players.

• Tesla’s Optimus program, Figure’s humanoid robots, and Boston Dynamics’ commercial offerings represent the high-end market.
• Companies like Unitree have introduced more affordable humanoid robots at around $16,000.
• Rather than creating a single, highly capable robot, Hugging Face is building an ecosystem of affordable, modular, open-source robotics components.

Strategic partnerships: The company leverages collaborations across the industry to accelerate robotics development.

• Partnership with NVIDIA on robotics simulation and training through Isaac Lab enables developers to generate synthetic training data.
• Recent release of SmolVLA, a 450-million parameter vision-language-action model designed to run on consumer hardware including MacBooks.
• Physical Intelligence has made its Pi0 robot foundation model available through Hugging Face, creating cross-pollination opportunities.

What they’re saying: Industry leaders position open source as the solution to privacy and concentration concerns in robotics.

• “One of my personal motivations to do open source robotics is that I think it’s going to fight concentration of power,” Delangue said. “The idea of ending up in a world where just a few companies are controlling millions of robots that are in people’s homes, being able to take action in real life, is quite scary.”
• “Making robotics more accessible increases the velocity with which technology advances,” noted Physical Intelligence co-founder Sergey Levine.

Manufacturing challenges: Hugging Face faces significant scaling hurdles as it transitions from a software platform to a hardware company.

• The company plans to begin shipping units as early as next month, starting with more DIY-oriented versions.
• “The first versions, the first orders shipping will be a bit DIY, in the sense that we’ll split the weight of assembling with the user,” Delangue explained.
• Hardware presents unique challenges compared to software, including manufacturing quality control, supply chain management, and physical safety requirements.

Educational impact: The affordable price point could significantly transform robotics education and research accessibility.

• Universities, coding bootcamps, and individual learners can explore robotics concepts without expensive laboratory equipment.
• Students can progress from basic programming to sophisticated AI applications using the same platform.
• Community feedback has already influenced product development, including the wireless version after a colleague’s five-year-old daughter wanted to carry the robot around the house.