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Hugging Face's Adorable Reachy Mini Robot Is Now Available For Preorder.
Posted Jul 9, 2025 at 12:55 PM UTCEYoutubeEmma RothHugging Face's adorable Reachy Mini robot is now available for preorder.The open-source robot is fully programmable in Python, allowing tinkerers to create and test AI applications for the desktop-sized device, which features "expressive movement" with a motorized head and body, as well as multimodal sensing.
The $449 Reach Mini is wireless and
AI software company Hugging Face is now taking pre-orders for a small robot aimed at developers an folks learning to code. It's called Reachy Mini, and it's basically a programmable toy that sits on your desk and interacts with people around it by moving its head, rotating its body, or waving its antenna.
The robot comes in two versions: there's a Reachy Mini Lite that costs $299 and which should ship later this summer, and a Reachy Mini that sells for $449 and should begin be available in batches, with shipment set to begin in the fall.
For the most part both models look the same and offer similar functionality. They measures about 11″ heigh and 6.3″ wide (280 x 160mm) and weigh about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kg). And they feature a head that extends from the body and moves with 6 degrees of freedom. There's a wide angle camera and 5W stereo speaker in both models.
The $449 Reachy Mini is a fully autonomous device that's
The $299 Reach Mini Lite has just two microphones, lacks the battery, accelerometer and WiFi capabilities, and doesn't have a Raspberry Pi. Instead it's meant to run code from a connected computer. Hugging Face says Mac and Linux PCs are currently supported, while Windows compatibility is a work in progress.
At this point Reachy Mini doesn't really do very much. A promo video shows it dancing to music, moving its head to follow a user's hand, and not much more, although Hugging Face says that there's "a set of 15+ robot behaviors" available at launch. The company is hoping the hardware provides an entry point for users looking to get into robotics, and encourages a community of developers to create "new robot behaviors."
But at this point, Hugging Face is also clear that Reachy Mini "is currently in an early development phase," and that the company is "sharing it as-is, without warranties or guarantees, to engage with early adopters and gather feedback."
via TechCrunch
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Contribute via PayPal * If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it. Join 9,508 other subscribersMini-robot Shifts From Solid To Liquid To Escape Its Cage—just Like The T-1000
Demonstration of MPTM smart-soldering robot for circuit repair. Credit: Q. Wang et al., 2023
Demonstration of MPTM smart-soldering robot for circuit repair. Credit: Q. Wang et al., 2023
"The magnetic particles here have two roles," said co-author Carmel Majidi, a mechanical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University. "One is that they make the material responsive to an alternating magnetic field, so you can, through induction, heat up the material and cause the phase change. But the magnetic particles also give the robots mobility and the ability to move in response to the magnetic field."
In addition to the demonstration involving an MPTM minifig escaping from a cage, Majidi and colleagues demonstrated a smart soldering machine capable of manipulating and fusing electronic components for circuit assembly and repair. Aided by MPTM's wireless functionality and metal-like electrical conductivity, they were able to remotely control an MPTM device to transport light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to specific spots in circuits using an external magnetic field. The device wrapped the LED pins, then melted into liquid phase to form electrical connections between the pins and soldering pads. The soldering process was completed when the device cooled, ultimately creating a fully functional LED circuit.
Demonstration of MPTM robot used to clear a foreign body from an artificial stomach. Credit: Q. Wang et al., 2023
Demonstration of MPTM robot used to clear a foreign body from an artificial stomach. Credit: Q. Wang et al., 2023
The team also made an MPTM "universal screw" capable of assembling parts in hard-to-reach tight spaces. Damaged or dislodged screws can cause havoc to the safe operation of precision hardware. For this proof of concept, two remotely controlled MPTMs passed through a narrow space and settled to the top of threaded holes. Upon heating, the MPTMs turned into liquid and filled the threaded holes to form screws, which solidified when cooled, thereby joining two plastic plates together.
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