Hugging Face hits $1M in sales just 5 days after launching its Reachy Mini robot. The company known for open source AI models is now betting on robotics with a hackable, desktop-friendly bot.
Reachy Mini packs cameras, mics, speakers, and moving parts into a cute, compact design. It runs open source software, lets users build and run custom apps locally, and comes with preset experiences out of the box.
Co-founder Thomas Wolf calls Reachy Mini “a bit like an empty iPhone,” aiming to spark a new market for robot apps. The bot’s affordable price and friendly look have helped it catch fire online as an entry point for everyday human-robot interaction. 
Wolf sees it more as entertainment and developer playground than a chore-slaying bot like rivals Figure or 1X. Hugging Face also plans to build an app ecosystem around the platform, hoping open source AI will boost robotics like it did software.
“The Reachy Mini is an entry point for getting consumers to be comfortable with robots in their home, and earning their trust,” Thomas Wolf said on TechCrunch’s Equity podcast.
Wolf also discussed Hugging Face’s acquisition of French startup Pollen, ambitions for full-sized humanoid robots, and keeping prices low to expand access.
This early success marks Hugging Face’s leap from AI software into hardware — a move to watch as it blends open source AI with physical robots.
Listen to the full Equity episode for more on Hugging Face’s robotics vision, privacy in consumer bots, and what’s next for Reachy Mini’s app ecosystem.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or Spotify.
