Pollen Robotics, the Hugging Face robotics team behind the open-source Reachy Mini desktop robot, has launched "Level Up", a set of add-ons that let the little robot leave the desk. Announced on 29 October, it adds a two-wheeled Hoverboard base, NFC hats that switch the robot's personality, and iOS and Android apps.
What is new
- Hoverboard, $149 (pre-order): a two-wheeled base with soft tyres, its own battery and electronics, and Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB-C. It arrives fully assembled. You drive it from your phone with live video from the robot's camera, and it sits down when it stops or powers off. It works with Reachy Mini Wireless only.
- NFC Accessory Pack, $35: a small NFC board fits inside the head, and magnetic chef, pirate and crown hats each carry a tag that switches the robot to that character. Four spare tags let you link your own objects to a personality or your own code. It fits both Wireless and Lite.
- Mobile app: Pollen says Reachy Mini can now be set up and used entirely from a smartphone, without a computer.
Key details
- Reachy Mini Wireless: $499, Raspberry Pi CM4 and battery built in
- Reachy Mini Lite: $399, runs from a Mac, PC or Linux machine over USB
- Apps: 500+ community apps, one-click install
Our take
NFC hats are a clever, cheap trick for physical AI: a tag costs cents, and swapping a hat is far more natural for a child than opening an app.
Image credit: Pollen Robotics, cropped and resized.
About the author: Aswinth Raj is an electronics engineer and the editor of CircuitDigest, where he has published more than 150 hands-on projects and tutorials across Arduino, PIC, ESP32, Raspberry Pi and EV battery systems. He selects the stories on this page for what engineers and makers can actually learn or build from. Connect on LinkedIn
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