Hugging Face now accepts orders for Reachy Mini robots
Hugging Face, the AI platform best known for its open source machine learning community, has taken another step into robotics. The company announced that it is now accepting orders for its new Reachy Mini desktop robots, designed specifically for developers to build, program, and experiment with AI-powered machines.
Originally unveiled as prototypes in May alongside the larger HopeJR humanoid robot, the Reachy Mini comes in two versions: the Reachy Mini Wireless and the Reachy Mini Lite. The Wireless model is priced at $449 and runs on a Raspberry Pi 5, offering a portable, standalone experience. The Lite version, at $299, requires a connection to an external computer but lowers the entry cost for developers.
Both versions are open source and come in kit form, encouraging users to build the robots themselves. Roughly the size of a stuffed animal, the Reachy Mini sports a playful design with two screen-based eyes and a pair of antennae. Once assembled, it is fully programmable in Python and comes preloaded with demo applications. Crucially, the robots are integrated with the Hugging Face Hub, allowing seamless access to over 1.7 million AI models and 400,000 datasets.
According to Hugging Face CEO Clém Delangue, the decision to offer two models came directly from user feedback. Early prototype testing revealed that even young users — like a five-year-old tester who wanted to carry the robot around the house — valued portability. “The goal in the future is to keep carefully getting a lot of feedback like that from users, from the community,” Delangue said, emphasizing the company's open source philosophy. “By the nature of it being open source, it means that people will be able to extend it, modify it, change everything they want.”
The Reachy Mini targets AI developers who want to prototype and test robotics applications. Hugging Face hopes the community will create and share new features and apps, creating an ecosystem of plug-and-play innovations for the robots. Delangue envisions a future where “millions of different applications, millions of different features” are available to be shared and adapted.
The Reachy Mini Lite is expected to start shipping next month, with the wireless version following later this year. Hugging Face is aiming for rapid delivery post-order, steering clear of extended pre-order periods and uncertain timelines.
This release reflects Hugging Face's broader vision for robotics: a world where robots are open, understandable, and customizable by their users. Delangue emphasized the risks of proprietary, closed-source robots, saying, “I think it’s quite a scary world to have millions of robots in people’s homes controlled by one company, with customers not really being able to control them, understand them.”
With Reachy Mini, Hugging Face hopes to empower a new generation of AI builders — and make robotics a collaborative, creative endeavor rather than a proprietary one.
