Hugging Face Acquires Pollen Robotics to Unleash Open Source AI Robots
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Summary
Paris-based start-up Pollen Robotics, which makes the humanoid robot Reachy 2, has been acquired by Hugging Face, with the new owner intending to sell the robot and make its software open source.
Reachy 2 is designed to help leading AI companies study robotic manipulation, with the eventual aim of being used in people’s homes.
However, selling humanoid robots is challenging, with their use cases and reliability for performing tasks still unclear.
Making hardware open source involves releasing design and component details, and 3D models to make manufacturing easier.
Reachevising the potential of open source hardware, Reachy 2’s CEO Matthieu Lapeyre commented: “They can [3D] print a part if something is broken, or if something is not perfect, they can make it a bit better by adding a new part.”
This direction represents the AI industry’s turning to developments in robotics.
