Hugging Face Acquires Pollen Robotics to Push Open-Source Humanoid Robots
Hugging Face purchases French startup Pollen Robotics, makers of the Reachy 2 humanoid robot, to expand its open-source robotics initiatives. The deal allows developers to buy the robot and directly contribute to its underlying code.
Hugging Face acquires Pollen Robotics, a French startup that creates affordable humanoid robots for the home. The AI development platform plans to sell Pollen's flagship robot, Reachy 2, and invites developers to download and improve its open-source code. This move signals Hugging Face's commitment to making robotics as collaborative and accessible as software development.
Pollen Robotics, founded in 2016 by Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanet, previously raises around $2.83 million from investors including Bpifrance. The acquisition builds on an existing partnership between the two companies, who collaborated last year to build "Le Robot," an open-source machine trained to perform various household chores. Hugging Face also employs a dedicated robotics team led by Remi Cadene, a former engineer from Tesla's Optimus program.
This purchase highlights a growing trend where robotics emerges as the next major frontier for artificial intelligence. Hugging Face executives state that they envision a future where both AI and physical robots are entirely open-source. By bringing Pollen's hardware and software in-house, Hugging Face positions itself at the center of this evolving open-source robotics community.