Hugging Face introduces two open-source robot designs

Hugging Face Inc. has open-sourced the blueprints of two internally developed robots called HopeJR and Reachy Mini.

The company debuted the machines on Thursday.

Hugging Face is backed by more than $390 million in funding from Nvidia Corp., IBM Corp. and other investors. It operates a GitHub-like platform for sharing open-source artificial intelligence projects. It says its platform hosts more than 1 million AI models, hundreds of thousands of datasets and various other technical assets.

The company started prioritizing robotics last year after launching LeRobot, a section of its platform dedicated to autonomous machines. The portal provides access to AI models for powering robots and datasets that can be used to train those models. Hugging Face released its first hardware blueprint, a robotic arm design called the SO-100, late last year.

The SO-100 was developed in partnership with a startup called The Robot Studio. Hugging Face also collaborated with the company on the HopeJR, the first new robot that debuted this week. According to TechCrunch, it’s a humanoid robot that can perform 66 movements including walking.

HopeJR is equipped with a pair of robotic arms that can be remotely controlled by a human using a pair of specialized, chip-equipped gloves. HopeJR’s arms replicate the movements made by the wearer of the gloves. A demo video shared by Hugging Face showed that the robot can shake hands, point to a specific text snippet on a piece of paper and perform other tasks.

Hugging Face’s other new robot, the Reachy Mini, likewise features an open-source design. It’s based on technology that the company obtained through the acquisition of a venture-backed startup called Pollen Robotics earlier this year.

Reachy Mini is a turtle-like robot that comes in a rectangular case. Its main mechanical feature is a retractable neck that allows it to follow the user with its head or withdraw into the case. This case, which is stationary, is compact and lightweight enough to be placed on a desk.

A few years prior to its acquisition by Hugging Face, Pollen Robotics detailed an internally developed robot neck design. The module moves using a custom actuator dubbed Orbita. At the time, Polled Robotics detailed that Orbita was powered by multiple compact motors from a Swiss company called Maxon Motor AG.

Hugging Face envisions customers using Reachy Mini to develop AI applications. An industrial automation company, for example, might wish to train an AI model that allows its robots to interact with human workers on the factory floor. Reachy Mini could be used to test such software before deploying it to production.

Hugging Face will sell pre-assembled versions of the Reach Mini and HopeJR for about $250 and $3,000, respectively. The company expects to ship the first units by the end of the year. Because both robots’ blueprints are available under an open-source license, companies can assemble their own versions of the machines and make customizations. 

Photo: Hugging Face