Hugging Face has reinforced its commitment to robotics by announcing the release of two new humanoid robots: HopeJR and Reachy Mini. This latest initiative is aimed at increasing the sophistication of robotic technology. It seeks to increase access to cutting-edge solutions to the field.
Created as part of a long-term research initiative, HopeJR is an impressive full-size humanoid robot. It features 66 actuated DoF, allowing it to perform 66 different movements independently. This advanced design enables HopeJR to walk and move its arms, making it a versatile addition to Hugging Face’s robotics lineup. The company plans to begin delivering the first units of HopeJR by year’s end. We’re sharing this thrilling news with you fresh from the source — co-founder and CEO Clem Delangue.
Aside from HopeJR, Hugging Face launched Reachy Mini, a colorful new desktop-friendly unit created to perform and engage in several settings. Reachy Mini can move its head, talk, and listen, making it a perfect platform for testing applications of artificial intelligence. The pairing of these two robots demonstrates Hugging Face’s goal of leading the field of humanoid robotics.
Hugging Face is continuing to add training data to its LeRobot platform. To supercharge these efforts, they’ve joined up with the AI startup Yaak. This expansion brings a new trove of data that’s helping to make self-driving machines safer and smarter. It deepens Hugging Face’s importance at the intersection of robotics and AI.
“The important aspect is that these robots are open source, so anyone can assemble, rebuild, understand how they work, and that they’re affordable, so that robotics doesn’t get dominated by just a few big players with dangerous black-box systems.” – Clem Delangue
Hugging Face has been hard at work producing new releases. In addition to those advances, they’ve made improvements to their signature 3D-printed and programmable robotic arm, the SO-101. This tremendous progress was made by working with French robotics company The Robot Studio on this collaboration. The SO-101 is meant to be as user-friendly and accessible as possible, which fits perfectly with Hugging Face’s idea of democratizing robotics technology.
Just last month, Hugging Face acquired the humanoid robotics startup Pollen Robotics. This recent move greatly increased its capacity to design state-of-the-art and highly capable robotic solutions. The company in recent weeks has opened an informal waitlist for would-be customers ready to start working with their newest innovations.
