Hugging Face, the startup, better known for the AI developer platform of the same name, sells a programmable robotic arm printed in 3D which can pick up and place objects and perform some other basic tasks.
Called the SO-101, the arm is the follow-up of the previous Hugging Face robotic arm, the SO-100, released last year. The company’s robotic division, Lerobot, has teamed up with the French robotics company The Robot Studio to start SO-100 for around $ 100 in October.
Hugging Face has teamed up with the robot studio for the SO-101, as well as with the Wowrobo robotics store, the IoT Seedstudio equipment supplier and the Dénobot robotics seller.
Compared to SO-100, the SO-101, which also starts at $ 100, is faster to assemble and has improved motors that reduce friction while allowing the arm to maintain its own weight. The arm equipped with the camera can be formed via an AI technique called learning by strengthening, which allows it to “learn” to perform tasks like picking up a LEGO block and placing it in a tank.
Super excited to present SO-101 today @Huggfacein collaboration with @TemobotstudioWOWROBO, SEEDESTUDIO & SHARABOT.
Building on the incredibly successful SO-100 (the most popular robot weapons of all time?), SO-101 are the first robot weapons that IA manufacturer should buy.… pic.twitter.com/y3ihskmigb
– Clem 🤗 (@CliqueDelangue) April 28, 2025
$ 100 is the basic price of SO-101, to be clear. Thanks to bonuses on fully assembled units and American prices on Chinese imports, prices vary from $ 100 to $ 500, according to the supplier.
Hugging Face considerably widens his robotics efforts, recently acquiring Pollen Robotics, a robotics startup based in France, for an unknown amount. Directed by the former engineer of Tesla Optimus Remi Cadene, Hugging Face’s Robotics Wing plans to sell the humanoid robot of Pollen, Travely 2, and to let the developers download and suggest improvements to its code.
