Hugging Face has entered the robotics arena with a bold move: launching open-source AI robots to challenge Tesla's Optimus. Led by former Tesla scientist Remi Cadene, the initiative aims to democratize robotics by making advanced AI-powered robots accessible to all. Through the acquisition of Pollen Robotics, creators of the humanoid robot Reachy 2, Hugging Face is combining cutting-edge AI with open-source principles to revolutionize the field. Discover how this development is set to transform the robotics landscape.
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00:00So, something pretty big just happened in the world of AI and robotics.
00:07Something that could actually change how we interact with machines in the next few years.
00:11Hugging Face, the company that pretty much dominates the open-source AI scene,
00:15just bought a humanoid robot company called Pollen Robotics.
00:19And this isn't just some quiet little side project.
00:22This could be the beginning of Hugging Face stepping hard into the AI robotics game
00:26and into our homes, labs, and maybe even classrooms.
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00:53Alright, now Hugging Face.
00:54The acquisition was announced on April 14, 2025.
00:57No official price tag has been revealed, but it's a serious move.
01:01Pollen Robotics is based in Bordeaux, France, and they've been around since 2016.
01:06Up until now, they'd raised about $2.8 million in venture funding.
01:11Not huge in startup terms, but enough to build something meaningful.
01:14And what they've built is Ricci2.
01:16That's their humanoid robot, and yeah, it's open-source.
01:20The robot's already being used at places like Cornell and Carnegie Mellon,
01:25which gives you a good idea of its credibility in research and education spaces.
01:29Now, here's the interesting part.
01:31Hugging Face has always been about open-source software.
01:34You probably know them best for hosting a massive collection of open-weight AI models and tools.
01:40But lately, they've been dropping hints that robotics is the next big chapter for AI.
01:45And this acquisition, it's basically the moment they turned the page.
01:49They're not just buying a robot, they're buying a vision.
01:53One where robotics becomes open, affordable, modifiable, and most importantly, collaborative.
01:59Thomas Wolfe, Hugging Face's co-founder and chief scientist, put it pretty bluntly,
02:04robotics is the next frontier that AI is going to unlock.
02:08And it makes sense.
02:09With all the advances we've seen in world models and embodied AI,
02:12it's kind of obvious we're moving beyond screens and into physical, real-world interactions.
02:18And Hugging Face isn't exactly new to this space.
02:21They've been building toward this moment for a while.
02:23Last year, they brought on Remy Kadeen, a former Tesla Optimus researcher.
02:28Yep, Optimus, as in the humanoid robot project.
02:31Then in May, they launched Lee Robot, which is basically an open-source robotics code library.
02:37Later that year, they partnered with the Robot Studio, another French robotics firm, to launch the SO100,
02:43this super-capable robotic arm that costs just $100.
02:47Yeah, $100, not $10,000.
02:50It's meant to be accessible, just like everything else they're doing.
02:53Then in March 2025, NVIDIA chose Hugging Face as the go-to platform to host its Groot N1 model,
03:01an open-source AI model built specifically for humanoid robots.
03:05So Hugging Face isn't just experimenting here,
03:08they're clearly building out a serious robotics infrastructure.
03:12Now let's talk about Ricci 2 itself, because it's not your average robot.
03:16It's got two 7 degrees of freedom arms, which means it can move a lot like a human.
03:21One arm alone can lift up to 3 kilograms and manipulate objects with pretty impressive dexterity.
03:26The design is modular, so you can get different configurations, single arm, dual arm, mobile base, whatever fits your needs.
03:34It's designed to run on Roast 2 Foxy, works with Python, and even has a VR interface for teleoperation.
03:41You can literally see through its cameras and control it in real time, moving its arms, hands, and head with VR gear.
03:49And yeah, it's pricey right now, around $70,000, but Hugging Face says they're working on driving the costs down,
03:56eventually to the point where people could 3D print their own parts and build their own robots at home.
04:01Imagine just downloading a blueprint, printing the parts, and assembling your own humanoid assistant powered by open-source AI.
04:09That's the future they're going for.
04:12And why open-source? Why not just go the Apple route and sell polished, closed systems?
04:18Well, according to Wolf, safety and security are a huge part of the reason.
04:22He mentioned how Unitry, a fast-growing Chinese robotics company, accidentally left a backdoor in the open-source software of its robot dog GoOne.
04:31That backdoor could have turned it into a surveillance device without the user knowing.
04:36So by keeping things open, more eyes can spot vulnerabilities, fix them, and push the whole ecosystem forward.
04:42The goal here isn't to replace human workers with robots, not yet anyway.
04:47Wolf says the first wave of humanoid robots probably won't be about labor.
04:52Instead, it'll be more about interaction, fun, engaging, even educational experiences.
04:58Maybe robots at science museums or AI companions for programming workshops.
05:03But there's definitely potential for useful household tasks, too, like folding laundry or helping in the kitchen.
05:10And let's be honest, who wouldn't want a robot to do the dishes?
05:13What's exciting is how this fits into the bigger AI ecosystem Hugging Face is building.
05:18Their platform already hosts some of the best language models out there.
05:22Transformers, computer vision tools, even speech recognition.
05:26Now imagine integrating those into ReachE2.
05:29You'd get robots that can see, hear, understand, and act, all powered by OpenAI,
05:34not locked in systems where only a few companies control what's possible.
05:39There's also something kind of poetic about this.
05:41Hugging Face started as a chat app.
05:43Then it blew up into the go-to place for OpenAI models.
05:47Now it's going physical, literally bringing those models into the real world.
05:51And they're doing it in a way that feels collaborative and community-first.
05:55Not just chasing profits, but building something that people can learn from, modify, improve, and share.
06:02Even their messaging makes it clear.
06:04They want robotics to be open, hackable, and accessible to everyone.
06:08From researchers and developers to students and hobbyists, and that includes the hardware.
06:12Wolf said they eventually want to open source the hardware completely.
06:16That means blueprints, schematics, CAD files, everything you'd need to replicate ReachE2 from scratch, if you wanted to.
06:24Of course, none of this is easy. Robotics is tough.
06:26There's a reason most humanoid robots are either stuck in research labs or cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
06:32But that's exactly why Hugging Face might succeed here.
06:35They're not starting from zero.
06:37They're bringing the same open source philosophy that made them a household name in AI and applying it to robots.
06:43Now, on the team side, Paulin's co-founders Mathieu Lepere and Pierre Rouenet are joining Hugging Face, along with about 20 other employees.
06:52Some reports say around 30, actually, which makes this Hugging Face's largest acquisition in terms of headcount.
06:58And it's also their fifth acquisition overall.
07:01For a company that's raised almost $400 million in funding, this is probably just the beginning.
07:09The synergy is obvious.
07:10Hugging Face has the AI.
07:12Paulin has the hardware.
07:13And both are deeply committed to open source.
07:16So yeah, this isn't just a PR stunt or some side project.
07:19It's a real pivot.
07:20Hugging Face is betting on a future where robots aren't locked behind paywalls or proprietary systems.
07:26They want a world where anyone can build their own AI-powered robot, experiment with it, improve it, and maybe even contribute to making it better for everyone else.
07:35But robots aren't the only thing making headlines.
07:38AI giants have been dropping updates that are just as wild.
07:42On the same day Hugging Face dropped their robotics bombshell, OpenAI rolled out GPT 4.1, and it's kind of a beast.
07:49So this is the successor to GPT 4.0, which already blew us away with multimodal capabilities.
07:54And now 4.1 is basically better at everything.
07:57It's got a massive 1 million token context window, and it's more reliable too.
08:02It actually pays attention across long prompts and filters out junk way better than 4.0 ever did.
08:09They also released two smaller siblings, GPT 4.1 Mini and GPT 4.1 Nano.
08:16Nano especially is getting a lot of buzz.
08:18It's OpenAI's smallest, fastest, and cheapest model so far, and it still shares the same improved performance DNA.
08:25So if you're building apps or tools, especially anything lightweight, this is something to watch closely.
08:31Oh, and the price?
08:32GPT 4.1 is 26% cheaper than GPT 4.0, which is clearly a response to models like DeepSeq and Mistral starting to bite at their heels.
08:42OpenAI even confirmed it's phasing out the original GPT 4 by the end of April and ditching the GPT 4.5 preview by mid-July.
08:51From here on out, 4.1 is the new default.
08:55But get this, GPT 5, it's delayed.
08:58Sam Altman confirmed it.
09:00Originally expected around May, now it's in a few months.
09:03And they admitted it's been a bit harder than they thought to merge everything smoothly.
09:07So until then, we're riding the 4.1 wave.
09:11Now here's something totally unexpected.
09:13Google is trying to talk to dolphins.
09:16No joke.
09:17They built an AI model called Dolphin Gemma based on their open source Gemma framework.
09:23It's trained on decades of recordings from the Wild Dolphin Project.
09:27Underwater clicks, whistles, even squawks during fights.
09:31And it tries to predict vocal patterns like a language model.
09:34Basically, it's chat GPT, but for dolphins.
09:38The craziest part is they're running this on Pixel phones in the ocean.
09:42Using a system called chat powered by the Pixel 9, they're hoping to create a kind of shared vocabulary between humans and dolphins.
09:49It's still early days, but if this works, we're literally entering interspecies communication with LOMs.
09:57Wild times.
09:58Alright, that's it for today.
09:59What do you think about robots becoming open source and us maybe talking to dolphins soon?
10:04Let me know in the comments.
10:05I'm really curious to hear your thoughts.
10:07Thanks for watching.
10:08Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already, and I'll catch you in the next one.