Hugging Face Acquires Humanoid Robotics Startup

Hugging Face Acquires Robotics Firm Pollen Robotics

Hugging Face, a leading artificial intelligence development platform, has completed the acquisition of Pollen Robotics, a French robotics startup. The financial terms of the deal have not been publicly disclosed.

According to reports from Wired, Hugging Face intends to offer Pollen Robotics’ humanoid robot, Reachy 2, for sale. Furthermore, the platform will enable developers to access and contribute to the robot’s underlying code, fostering collaborative improvement.

Pollen Robotics' Background

Founded in 2016 by Matthieu Lapeyre and Pierre Rouanet, Pollen Robotics focused on developing accessible and affordable humanoid robots for domestic use.

Prior to the acquisition, the company successfully secured €2.5 million – approximately $2.83 million – in funding from investors. Bpifrance was among those who contributed to Pollen Robotics’ funding, as detailed by Crunchbase.

Expanding Hugging Face's Robotics Initiatives

This acquisition signifies a considerable broadening of Hugging Face’s involvement in the field of robotics. Pollen Robotics had previously collaborated closely with Hugging Face on various projects.

Last year, the two companies jointly developed “Le Robot,” an open source robot designed to perform a range of household tasks.

Hugging Face has also assembled a dedicated robotics team. This team is under the direction of Remi Cadene, who previously worked as a robotics engineer on Tesla’s Optimus program.

The integration of Pollen Robotics is expected to accelerate Hugging Face’s progress in creating more advanced and accessible robotic solutions.