Reachy Mini is an open-source desktop robot with an 11-inch height and a weight of 3.3 pounds, a 6-degree-of-freedom anthropomorphic head, a 360° rotating body, a dynamically swinging antenna, a wide-angle camera, microphones and speakers, and an integrated Hugging Face artificial intelligence framework that supports more than 1.7 million models. The product is sold in kits, and users can complete the assembly in 2-3 hours; The model is available with either a wired version (USB powered) or a wireless version (with a Raspberry Pi and a built-in battery).
Users can quickly operate through a simple Python software development kit (SDK), run applications such as conversations, hand tracking, and robot simulation testing.
At one end are expensive and technologically closed industrial or scientific research humanoid robots, and at the other end are educational toy robots with limited functions and non-scalability.
The “middle layer” that truly belongs to individual developers, students, and AI researchers has long been vacant.
Reachy Mini, is the project that tries to fill this gap.
Launched by French robotics company Pollen Robotics , it is a desktop-level, open-source version of its humanoid robot Reachy, with very clear objectives:
Let more people truly “touch, change, and play” humanoid robots.
What is Reachy Mini?
In simple terms, Reachy Mini is an open-source humanoid robot platform, not a “plug and play” finished device.
It retains the key characteristics of humanoid robots:
- Humanoid structure of head + upper limbs
- Multi-degree-of-freedom joints (simulating shoulder, elbow, wrist, etc.)
- Cameras, sensors, for vision and interaction
- Modular, disassembled, 3D printable mechanical structure
But at the same time, it is deliberately compressed in size, cost, and complexity to become a tabletop robot suitable for use on a laboratory bench, desk, or teaching environment.
What does this GitHub project contain?
reachy_mini The repository is not a “software demo”, but a complete collection of open source technical solutions, which can be roughly divided into three layers.
Hardware and structural design
- Mechanical part design (large number of 3D printable parts)
- Bill of Materials (BOM)
- Servos, joint layout and assembly logic
This means:
You are not “buying a black box robot”, but you can understand why it works the way it is at the structural level.
Robot control and interface software
- Python-based control logic
- Kinematics Abstract Interface
- Unified packaging of motors, sensors, and cameras
For developers, this layer is significant:
You can focus on “behavior and intelligence” instead of writing the underlying drivers from scratch.
AI / Interactive Experimentation Basics
Reachy Mini doesn’t have complex AI built in, but it leaves room for AI to interface:
- Computer Vision (Object Recognition, Tracking)
- Human-computer interaction experiment
- Reinforcement Learning/Behavioral Strategy Validation
It is more like an “Embodied AI experimental carrier” rather than a product with preset functions.
The core problem that Reachy Mini wants to solve
What this project really focuses on is not “how much robots can do”, but:
How can ordinary developers enter the field of humanoid robots and embodied intelligence?
In the current AI development, a large number of capabilities remain within the screen:
- Language models are “talking”
- The visual model is “looking at the picture”
- Reinforcement learning in a “simulated environment”
The value of the Reachy Mini is that it pulls these capabilities back into the physical world:
- AI doesn’t just output text, it drives real joints
- Decisions don’t just affect scores, but exercise outcomes
This is an important step from “virtual intelligence” to “physical intelligence”.
The target users of Reachy Mini are very clear
Suitable for:
- Students in the direction of Robotics / AI / Automation
- Researchers interested in embodied intelligence and reinforcement learning
- Maker, open source hardware enthusiast
- Teaching and laboratory demonstration scenarios
This is a project that requires hands-on, understanding, and allowed to fail.
Position in the humanoid robot ecosystem
If the humanoid robot is roughly layered:
- Commercial/Industrial: Expensive, closed, and unalterable
- Scientific level: powerful, but only in the laboratory
- Reachy Mini: Personal & Educational Level Portal
It is not a “end product”, but a starting point into the world of humanoid robots.
Github：https://github.com/pollen-robotics/reachy_mini
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