AI Tool Guides
Best for
Humanoid robot assembly and AI integration
Works on
Hardware + Python
Alternatives
NAO, VEX
Watch out
\$299–449 kit; simulator-only path available via MuJoCo
What It Does
Reachy Mini by Pollen Robotics is a tabletop robot with expressive antennas, a camera, a speaker, and a microphone. It is designed to be programmed by students and makers using Python. Unlike most educational robots, Reachy Mini looks and behaves like a character—it can track faces, react to speech, express emotions through antenna movements, and hold basic conversations when connected to an LLM. It bridges the gap between toy robots and professional research platforms.
Setup in 5 Minutes
.
- The robot runs a local web interface for configuration.
- Follow the Quick Start guide to verify motors, camera, and audio
are working.
- You are programming in Python within fifteen minutes of opening
the box.
Try This
Write a Python script that makes Reachy Mini track the nearest face using
its camera and turn its antennas to point at the person. Add an LLM
connection (using the OpenAI or Gemini API) so Reachy greets visitors by
name after they introduce themselves. You have just built an AI
receptionist.
Follow Along
Follow Along — Build an AI Greeter.
.
- Connect a text-to-speech library (e.g. pyttsx3) and have Reachy speak "Welcome! How can I help you today?".
- Add a distance check: only trigger the greeting when the person is within one metre of the camera.
- Test with multiple people entering the room and verify that Reachy greets each one individually.
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