Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics Unveil Their First Collaboration: An Open Source Robot Designed for Household Chores

Earlier this year, Hugging Face, a leading open-source AI community based in Brooklyn, New York, made headlines by hiring a former robotics engineer from Tesla’s Optimus program to spearhead a new initiative: an open-source robotics program named “Le Robot.”

Today, that engineer, Remi Cadene from Paris, France, shared a video on X showcasing what seems to be the first operational humanoid robot from Hugging Face’s Le Robot program.

The robot, called “Reachy2,” is designed by Pollen Robotics, an open-source robotics company based in Bordeaux, France. Pollen collaborated with Hugging Face to enable Reachy2 to perform various household tasks while safely interacting with humans and pets.

In a direct message on X, Cadene elaborated on the innovative training method used for Reachy2. Initially, a human operator controlled the robot remotely via a virtual reality headset, guiding it through chores such as placing cups on a dish rack and handing objects to people. A machine learning algorithm then analyzed 50 VR teleoperation videos, each around 15 seconds long, to teach Reachy2 how to perform these tasks independently. The videos correspond to different sensors within the robot. After undergoing 40,000 to 60,000 training steps, Reachy2 effectively learned how to rotate and pass an apple.

“We open-sourced this dataset and the model used for the demo on Hugging Face with Pollen Robotics,” Cadene stated in his message.

This dataset is available for public use, allowing others to replicate the process at home with smaller robots.

The push towards open-source robotics AI comes at a time of increased investment in robotics technology beyond traditional lab and industrial settings. Companies like Figure and Cobot have amassed hundreds of millions in funding, aiming to integrate new machine learning concepts, such as large language models, into physical robots designed to engage with people and their surroundings.

Hugging Face's Le Robot could intensify competition among robotics providers by offering free access to advanced robotics intelligence through its open-source code on community platforms like GitHub.

A Natural Collaboration

Cadene further explained the synergy between Hugging Face’s Le Robot team and Pollen Robotics, describing it as a natural partnership stemming from their geographic proximity and shared research goals.

“We have always followed Pollen Robotics and are impressed by their work,” Cadene noted. “They were seeking end-to-end training software while we were in search of humanoid robots. Thus, collaboration between Pollen’s Reachy and Hugging Face was a logical fit, particularly since they are just two hours from our lab in Paris.”

Pollen Robotics has a strong track record of creating open-source technologies for real-world applications. Founded in 2013, the company developed Poppy, purportedly the first 3D-printed open-source humanoid robot aimed at research.

Since then, Pollen Robotics has focused on producing open-source, open-science, and open-data solutions, partnering with scientists, artists, and innovators to broaden the scope of robotics and increase accessibility.

Their flagship product, Reachy 1, is a fully teleoperable, open-source robot starting at $9,750 (€8,990). Various configurations are available, including the Reachy Full Kit + Mobile Base for $43,500 (€39,990), the Reachy Full Kit for $30,500 (€27,990), the Reachy Starter Kit for $21,800 (€19,990), and the Reachy Arm Kit for $10,900 (€9,990).

Reachy excels at human interaction and object manipulation, incorporating pre-packaged AI and modular robotics for practical applications.

Pollen Robotics maintains a commitment to ethical practices, ensuring their technologies are accessible under open-source licenses, producing durable and repairable products, and avoiding military funding. They also provide significant discounts and free services for environmentally-focused open-source projects.

Reachy 2 is “coming soon,” as noted on the Pollen Robotics website, promising to be a significant advancement with brand-new 7-degree-of-freedom bio-inspired arms (3 kg payload each), akin to human arms, capable of lifting up to six pounds.

We have reached out to Pollen Robotics for additional details on Reachy 2 and their collaboration with Hugging Face's Le Robot and will provide updates as they become available.