Get ready to put on your developer hat with Hugging Face, the cutting-edge AI development platform. They've recently announced that they're now welcoming orders for their latest innovation – the Reachy Mini desktop robots.

This isn't a spur-of-the-moment decision; Hugging Face had given us a sneak-peek of these cute little gizmos last May, which were showcased alongside HopeJR, their larger humanoid kin.

But get this, Hugging Face is offering two flavors in their Reachy Mini series. You could go wireless with Reachy Mini Wireless, priced at $449. Or you could reel in the pocket-friendly Reachy Mini Lite, which requires a connection to a computer and costs just $299.

These open-source robots are shipped as kits for you to assemble, coding your way to a new companion. They're about the size of your cuddly plush toy and features two screens for eyes and two antennas. Once brought to life, you can program your Reachy Mini with Python and explore a broad range of pre-installed demos thanks to its integration with Hugging Face Hub – the company’s extensive open-source machine learning platform.

Clém Delangue, Hugging Face's CEO, shared how feedback played an instrumental role in developing these mini robots. A taste tester found that their little daughter would love to roam around home with a robot companion. And that's how the wireless Reachy Mini was born!

Hugging Face believes in cultivating a feedback-driven environment for building and improving its offerings. They're excited to see how users will customize and enhance their Reachy Minis. Their mission is to propel creative leaps in AI application building across their community.

Mainly envisaged for AI developers, the Reachy Minis promises a universe of experimentation with coding, building, and testing AI applications.Delangue is hopeful that this new line of products will unleash an avalanche of creativity within the community. Developers will be able to craft their own features and applications for Reachy Mini and even share their inventions with the community.

The Reachy Mini Lite is set to start shipping next month, with its wireless sibling following later in the year. Clém Delangue voiced the company's eagerness in getting these robots to users as quickly as possible from the time of ordering.

Echoing Hugging Face's vision for an open-source robotic future, Delangue expressed his perspective on the need for robotics to be driven by user ownership rather than a select few organizations. The objective is to place control in the hands of individuals, encouraging understanding and customization of their mechanical companions.