Hugging Face, the $4.5 billion artificial intelligence platform widely regarded as the "GitHub of machine learning," has launched Reachy Mini, a $299 desktop robot aimed at making AI-powered robotics development accessible to individual developers and researchers globally.
The 11-inch humanoid robot represents a significant departure from traditional robotics pricing, where similar systems typically cost between $20,000 to $70,000. At less than the price of most premium smartphones, Reachy Mini offers full programmability and AI integration capabilities that were previously available only to well-funded research institutions and corporations.
The launch comes as Hugging Face crosses 10 million AI builders on its platform, with CEO Clément Delangue noting that "more and more of them are building in relation to robotics." The company identified accessibility as a fundamental barrier preventing wider adoption of robotics development among individual programmers and smaller research teams.
Reachy Mini runs on open-source software and integrates directly with Hugging Face's existing AI model ecosystem, allowing developers to deploy pre-trained models or develop custom applications without requiring extensive robotics expertise. The robot features basic movement capabilities, camera integration, and can be programmed using standard Python libraries familiar to most AI developers.
Industry observers view the move as Hugging Face's attempt to replicate its open-source success in machine learning within the robotics sector. The company's platform currently hosts over 500,000 AI models and has become the de facto standard for sharing and collaborating on machine learning projects.
The timing aligns with growing interest in embodied AI, where artificial intelligence systems interact with physical environments through robotic platforms. Major technology companies including Google, Meta, and OpenAI have increased investments in robotics research, but their solutions remain primarily experimental and costly.
For the developer community, Reachy Mini potentially removes traditional barriers to robotics experimentation, including high costs, complex hardware setup, and proprietary software limitations. The robot is expected to ship in early 2025, with pre-orders beginning next month through Hugging Face's website.