Pollen Robotics

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.

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

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.

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