In the growing field of human-robot interaction, few projects manage to balance accessibility, expressiveness, and open-source flexibility. Reachy Mini is one of them — a compact humanoid robot created through a collaboration between Pollen Robotics and Hugging Face.

The robot stands at just 11 inches tall and weighs 3.3 pounds, yet it packs surprising capabilities. It includes a motorized head with six degrees of freedom, animated antennas, expressive screen-based eyes, a wide-angle camera, and up to four microphones for audio input. Designed for AI prototyping, classrooms, and hobbyist projects, Reachy Mini offers an open and programmable platform that supports Python, with JavaScript and Scratch on the roadmap.

Two models are available:

Reachy Mini Lite (USD 299): Uses an external computer and a wired connection

Reachy Mini (USD 449): Powered by a Raspberry Pi 5, with Wi-Fi, battery, and accelerometer

A simulation SDK allows developers to test behaviors virtually before deploying to hardware. The project is integrated with the Hugging Face Hub, where users can explore pre-installed demos and share their own behavior scripts.

For more information, visit the official site: 👉 reachy-mini.net