Hugging Face, the world’s fastest-growing and most innovative AI company, has big news! To spice things up, they’ve recently deployed their robotic arm, the SO-101. This sequel to last year’s SO-100 seeks to build upon the company’s burgeoning robotics efforts. In conjunction with acquiring French startup Pollen Robotics, Hugging Face has launched the SO-101 with a goal of leveling the playing field. The financial specifics of this buyout are not available.
The upgraded SO-101 robotic arm is meant to improve ease of use and efficiency over its predecessor. It features a much quicker to assemble design and employs new motors that make for an impressive 98% reduction in friction. This improvement allows the arm to better hold up its own weight. As such, it ends up being an extremely useful tool for AI developers. To facilitate this partnership, Hugging Face has marketed the SO-101 as the essential robotic arm for AI builders. Whether it’s reliability or innovation, this technology is meeting the challenge.
Hugging Face engineers worked on this with other collaborators like @therobotstudio, Wowrobo, Seeedstudio, and Partabot. Collectively, they created the SO-101 to serve users from a variety of backgrounds and experience levels. For the truly DIY-minded, this new robotic arm begins at only $100. This price can jump up to $500 depending on supplier and customized configurations. For price differences, impacts can be seen as the price premiums for turnkey models. U.S. tariffs on imports from China contribute significantly to the increase.
The release of the SO-101 is a sign of Hugging Face’s continued pursuit to deepen its presence within the robotics industry. The company hopes to use its AI breakthroughs to develop real-world applications across industries. The acquisition of Pollen Robotics strengthens Hugging Face’s robotics capabilities and enhances its innovation potential within the field.