Published on: April 15, 2025 / update from: April 15, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
No more expensive robots? Open Source Specialist for KI Hugging Face takes over the French startup pollen Robotics-Image: Xpert.digital
Robot for everyone? Hugging Face wants to change the robotics with open source
From AI models to real robots: Hugging Face's big plan after takeover and challenges Big Tech with open source
The takeover of the French robotics startup Pollen Robotics through the open source AI platform Hugging Face marks a significant step in the integration of artificial intelligence and robotics. With this strategic step, which was announced on April 14, 2025, Hugging Face is aiming to democratize the robotics through open source approaches, as the company has already succeeded in the area of AI models. The main goal: The development and use of robots should become more transparent, more accessible and community, while an alternative to the proprietary systems of large, capital -strong companies is created.
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The strategic importance of the takeover
Hugging Face, known as a central platform for open source AI models, expands its portfolio with physical robot systems with the takeover of pollen Robotics. This acquisition is the fifth in the company's history, after remarkable acquisitions such as Gradio and Xethub. At the center of the takeover is the Humanoid Robot Reachy 2, a system developed by pollen Robotics with expressive googly eyes and two robotic arms.
Clément Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, emphasizes the special importance of open source solutions in the area of robotics: “In physical objects, trust is even more important than with software”. This philosophy reflects the basic goal of not only providing robotics technologically, but also setting ethical standards and promoting transparency.
The takeover logically follows the previous steps of Hugging Face in the robotics area. As early as March 2024, the company Remi Cadene, a former Teslas Optimus program scientist, won to head a new open source robotics project. Under his leadership, the Lerobot library was introduced in May 2024, which quickly developed into the most used open source library for robotics, with over 12,000 stars on Github and more than 100 repositories on the Hugging Face Hub.
REACHY 2: The focus on the open source robot
Reachy 2, the flagship product of pollen Robotics, is the focus of the takeover. This humanoid robot has progressive properties:
- Two human -like arms with seven degrees of freedom that can manipulate objects up to 3 kg
- A unique orbit joint system for the neck and wrists, which enables flowing, multidirectional movements
- A mobile basis with omniwheels and lidar for seamless navigation
- VR tele surgery that enables intuitive remote control
- A friendly, accessible design that promotes natural interactions
The robot can already do simple tasks such as picking up fruit or clearing away cups. With a price of $ 70,000, Reachy 2 is not a mass product, but compared to other commercial humanoid robots is relatively affordable.
According to Matthieu Lapeyre, co-founder and CEO of pollen Robotics, several leading AI companies Reachy 2 are already using for research into robot manipulation, although he cannot give names for confidentiality. Renowned institutions such as accenture, CEA, CNRS, Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University have already adopted the robot.
The open source approach revolutionizes the robotics
The open source strategy of Hugging Face for Reachy 2 includes several dimensions:
- Operation of the source code for the control software
- Publication of construction plans, component lists and 3D models
- Enabling the community development and improvement of the system
This approach brings numerous advantages. Developers can replace broken parts themselves or 3D prints, incorporate their own improvements and expand existing designs with new functions. Transparency also promotes confidence in technology, which, according to Delangue, is particularly important if robots are to take on physical tasks in the work environment or at home.
"You can't trick open source," emphasizes the company. This philosophy is in contrast to proprietary systems in which users often depend on the manufacturers and have little insight into the functioning of the technology.
AI as the key to democratization of robotics
The integration of artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in democratizing robotics. Traditionally, the use of robots requires extensive special knowledge and complex programming. Rule -based systems must be configured with hundreds of parameters, which is a major hurdle for most companies.
Modern AI can eliminate these problems with implicit and circular learning. Neuronal networks can be trained with synthetic data to recognize and manipulate objects without the necessary manual parameterization. In addition, they can be continuously trained with real data during operation.
With the combination of open source robotics and advanced AI, Hugging Face wants to reduce the entry hurdles and make the technology accessible to a wider audience. Thomas Wolf, co -founder and Chief Scientist at Hugging Face, summarizes this vision: “We believe that robotics could be the next border that will be opened by AI -and it should be open, affordable and private. Our vision: a future in which everyone in the community, from hobbyists to companies, robot assistants or games can build or use, based on open solutions instead of closed, instead of closed, Remote -controlled hardware. ”
Hugging Face's growing robotics ecosystem
The takeover of pollen Robotics is part of a more comprehensive strategy of Hugging Face in the area of robotics. The company has built up an impressive portfolio of robotics projects:
- March 2024: Remi Cadene, former scientist at Tesla's Optimus project, joins Hugging Face to guide the new open source robotics project
- May 2024: Introduction of the Lerobot library, which quickly becomes the largest and most comprehensive open source library for robotics
- June 2024: Cooperation with pollen Robotics to Reachy 2, the first open source robot that is driven by Lerobot
- October 2024: Cooperation with @therobotstudio for the publication of the SO-100 arm, a high-performance robot arm for around $ 100
- November 2024: NVIDIA announces cooperation with Hugging Face to accelerate Lerobots data acquisition, training and verification workflow
- March 2025: NVIDIA introduces GR00T N1, the first open basic model for humanoid robots that is tailored to the Lerobot SO-100 robot arm
These developments show that Hugging Face systematically works on a comprehensive ecosystem for open source robotics and covers both hardware and software.
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Humanoid robots focus: David against Goliath in the tech industry
The market for humanoid robots is considered difficult. The systems are often prone to errors and the applications are often unclear. Capital -strength companies such as Tesla, Figure or Agility Robotics are currently dominating the market.
Reachy 2 is still relatively easy in its current state; It cannot run, but moves on a rolling base or remains stationary. Compared to commercial models such as Neura Robotics '4NE-1, Apptroniks Apollo, Figures Figure 02, Teslas Optimus or Agility Robotics' Digit, it is also considered a proof-of-concept.
Nevertheless, the open source approach offers enormous potential. In the takeover, Lapeyre sees an opportunity to make the robotics, which has so far been difficult to access. With the support of Hugging Face, Pollen hopes Robotics to democratize access to this technology and create a counterweight to the dominant large companies.
The fusion of AI and robotics: a new standard
The long -term vision of Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics is to develop humanoid robots that can be integrated into our everyday life. According to Delangue's forecast for 2025, “at least 100,000 personal robots are pre -ordered”, which signals massive growth in this area.
The current wave of AI innovation has led to a new enthusiasm for robotics because progress in AI improve the skills of physical systems. Some leading researchers argue that AI will need a physical presence to achieve or surpass human intelligence, since this growth could require a direct understanding of the physical environment.
The combination of open source strategies with advanced robotics could pave the way for a new era of automation, in which humanoid robots are increasingly integrated into our everyday life. The possibility that developers can work on the improvement of Reachy 2 worldwide could lead to faster progress in robotics and set new standards for the industry.
Democratized robotics: the future of open technologies
The takeover of pollen Robotics by Hugging Face marks an important milestone in the development of an open, accessible and transparent robotics ecosystem. With the combination of open source hardware, advanced AI and a committed developer community, companies create an alternative to the closed systems of the large technology groups.
The democratization of robotics by open source and AI has the potential to accelerate innovation, to promote trust and to make the technology accessible to a wider audience. While there are still challenges, Hugging Face's strategy shows a promising path how robotics could be developed and used in the future - open, collaborative and in the service of the community.
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