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Title: Hugging Face Introduces Two Open-Source Robot Designs

Link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/05/31/...

An anonymous reader quotes a report from SiliconANGLE: Hugging Face has open-
sourced the blueprints of two internally developed robots called HopeJR and
Reachy Mini. The company debuted the machines on Thursday. Hugging Face is
backed by more than $390 million in funding from Nvidia Corp., IBM Corp. and
other investors. It operates a GitHub-like platform for sharing open-source
artificial intelligence projects. It says its platform hosts more than 1
million AI models, hundreds of thousands of datasets and various other
technical assets. The company started prioritizing robotics last year after
launching LeRobot, a section of its platform dedicated to autonomous
machines. The portal provides access to AI models for powering robots and
datasets that can be used to train those models. Hugging Face released its
first hardware blueprint, a robotic arm design called the SO-100, late last
year. The SO-100 was developed in partnership with a startup called The Robot
Studio. Hugging Face also collaborated with the company on the HopeJR, the
first new robot that debuted this week. According to TechCrunch, it's a
humanoid robot that can perform 66 movements including walking. HopeJR is
equipped with a pair of robotic arms that can be remotely controlled by a
human using a pair of specialized, chip-equipped gloves. HopeJR's arms
replicate the movements made by the wearer of the gloves. A demo video shared
by Hugging Face showed that the robot can shake hands, point to a specific
text snippet on a piece of paper and perform other tasks. Hugging Face's
other new robot, the Reachy Mini, likewise features an open-source design.
It's based on technology that the company obtained through the acquisition of
a venture-backed startup called Pollen Robotics earlier this year. Reachy
Mini is a turtle-like robot that comes in a rectangular case. Its main
mechanical feature is a retractable neck that allows it to follow the user
with its head or withdraw into the case. This case, which is stationary, is
compact and lightweight enough to be placed on a desk. Hugging Face will
offer pre-assembled versions of its open-source Reach Mini and HopeJR robots
for $250 and $3,000, with the first units starting to ship by the end of the
year.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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