Robot Dad

Meet Reachy Mini — the little robot in these builds.

Every project on this site is built for Reachy Mini: a small, expressive desk robot made by Pollen Robotics, which is now part of Hugging Face. It is about the size of a lunchbox, it looks at you, and it is open source — hardware, software, and all. That last part is why it is such a good robot to learn on: nothing is hidden, and you are allowed to poke at everything.

We are not affiliated with Pollen Robotics or Hugging Face — we just like the robot. Everything here is a parent and a kid figuring it out at the kitchen table.

What it is

Size11 in / 28 cm tall
Weight3.3 lb / 1.5 kg
Head6 degrees of freedom
BodyFull rotation
EarsTwo animated antennas
EyesWide-angle camera
Hearing4 microphones
Voice5 W speaker
BrainPython
LicenseApache 2.0

Apps are shared as Hugging Face Spaces — which is exactly how the two ready-made apps on this site reach your robot. You install one the same way you would install anything else from the Hub.

Two versions

Reachy Mini Lite

Plugs into your Mac or PC over USB
Your computer is the brain
Camera, 4 mics, speaker
Same movement as the Wireless
No accelerometer

Reachy Mini Wireless

Raspberry Pi on board
Wi-Fi and its own battery
Camera, 4 mics, speaker
Runs apps by itself
Has an accelerometer

Which one do our builds need? Build 01 needs no robot at all — you make sounds with an AI app and play them on any speaker. Build 02 uses the accelerometer to feel a nudge, so it wants the Wireless. Build 03 uses the camera, so either version works.

Where to look next

The Reachy Mini announcement
The friendliest introduction, written by the people who made it.
Pollen Robotics — Reachy Mini
Official product page, specs, and where to buy.
Pollen Robotics on Hugging Face
The SDK, the models, and apps other people have shared.
The Reachy Mini SDK on GitHub
The Python you will actually be writing against in Builds 02 and 03.

Do you need a robot to start?

No. Build 01 needs nothing but an AI app and a speaker — it is about making sounds together, and it is a genuinely good afternoon on its own. The robot only becomes necessary in Build 02, when you want those sounds to come out of something with a face.