Pollen Robotics
French robotics startup building the open-source Reachy humanoid robot platform for research and education.
Last updated October 29, 2026
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Overview
Pollen Robotics is a French robotics company based in Bordeaux, known for developing Reachy, an open-source humanoid robot platform aimed primarily at research laboratories, universities, and engineering educators. The company positions itself at the intersection of affordable robotics hardware and open software: rather than selling a closed, black-box machine, Pollen Robotics publishes its software stack and design documentation so that researchers can program, modify, and extend the robot for their own experiments in manipulation, human-robot interaction, and embodied AI. Reachy is typically built around a torso-and-arms configuration with articulated, tendon-driven hands and a head with cameras, designed to be approachable and safe for close human interaction. Because the platform is modular and comparatively low-cost relative to industrial humanoid systems, it has been adopted by academic groups and AI research teams that need a reproducible hardware base for machine-learning experiments rather than a finished commercial product. Pollen Robotics operates as a small, privately held startup rather than a large industrial group. Its business model combines hardware sales with software and support, and the company has been active in the European robotics and open-source communities, demonstrating Reachy at research conferences and developer events. Its market positioning is that of an enabler for open, reproducible robotics research — a niche between hobbyist kits and expensive industrial humanoids. The company's trajectory reflects the broader rise of open-source hardware in robotics, where startups supply reference platforms that academic and corporate labs build on. Pollen Robotics has remained a specialist vendor rather than a mass-market consumer brand, and its visibility rests largely on the Reachy platform and its open-source ethos.
History
Pollen Robotics was founded in France in the mid-2010s as a small startup focused on open-source robotics. Based in Bordeaux, the team set out to build humanoid robots that were affordable and programmable enough for research labs, rather than the costly closed systems then dominant in the field. The company's central product, Reachy, was developed as a modular humanoid platform with articulated arms, tendon-driven hands, and a camera-equipped head. By publishing software and design information openly, Pollen Robotics allowed academic and industrial researchers to adapt the robot for experiments in manipulation, human-robot interaction, and embodied artificial intelligence. Over the following years the company demonstrated Reachy at robotics conferences and developer events, building a niche among universities and AI research groups in Europe and beyond. Its business combined hardware sales with software and support services, and it remained a privately held specialist rather than scaling into a mass-market manufacturer. Pollen Robotics' history illustrates the growth of open-source hardware in robotics, where small firms supply reference platforms that larger research ecosystems build upon. The company has stayed focused on its research and education customer base.
Pollen Robotics founded in France
Reachy humanoid robot platform developed and introduced
Products and positioning
Open-source, research-grade humanoid robotics platform for labs and educators
Reachy
Open-source modular humanoid robot with articulated arms, tendon-driven hands and camera head, aimed at research and education.
Recent events
Reported
Pollen Robotics launches Microduck robot[1]
Pollen Robotics launched and demonstrated its open-source Microduck robot at Nvidia’s 2026 GTC event in Berlin.
- Unconfirmed
Reported
Pollen Robotics and Robotis sign Microduck supply agreement[1]
Pollen Robotics confirmed that it had signed a supply agreement with Robotis for approximately 750,000 servos for Microduck.
Reported
Hugging Face unveils Microduck open-source robot duck[2]
Hugging Face unveiled Microduck, a 25-centimeter open-source robot duck priced at $399 and available for pre-order, with shipments expected before Christmas. The device ships with seven pre-trained behaviors and a fully open software stack published on GitHub under an Apache 2.0 license, and is designed for reinforcement learning experimentation at home.
Reported
Hugging Face launches $399 open-source robot Microduck[3]
Hugging Face released Microduck, a $399 open-source bipedal robot about 25 cm tall and under 2 pounds, co-developed with Pollen Robotics and to be manufactured in China with Seeed Studio. The robot is designed for reinforcement-learning training and is available for pre-order, with first shipments expected before Christmas.
Reported
Hugging Face unveils $400 Microduck bipedal robot[4]
Hugging Face Inc. unveiled Microduck, a $400 bipedal robot that can sing, skate and be taught tricks, with preorders opening Thursday and sales planned for later this year. The company said it is selling one Microduck every four seconds and aims to sell more than 20,000 units, with first shipments expected before Christmas.
Weekdays and relative dates follow the original report; their exact calendar dates have not been verified.
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