A short (long?) story about Innovation, Ethics, and a Dog Named Marcel

Founded in 2016 by former researchers, Pollen Robotics gathers talented and independent-minded people with a mission: advancing useful robotics that benefit society.

A mission we’ll consider as accomplished if our efforts contribute to helping others achieve similar outcomes.

The humans behind the robots

Pollen Robotics is based in the beautiful city of Bordeaux, South-West of France. We are a diverse group of people interested in computing, design, literature, dogs, music, mechatronics, video games and surfing.

Crafting with care

We’re big on user interaction — it’s the core of how we design things. Our robots? They’re navigating a complex world, working hand in hand with humans. It’s all about mutual understanding and acceptance in this dance.

When it comes to design, we keep it simple, elegant, and user-friendly. We want our customers to smoothly sail into the world of AI robotics without any fuss. Your focus? Dive into your own applications — our robots got your back.

2016 - It all began in a lab

Pollen Robotics was founded in 2016 by Matthieu and Pierre, former developmental robotics researchers at Inria’s Flowers team. With over a decade of collaboration, their focus has consistently been on making robots practical and accessible. Notable successes include Poppy, the pioneering 3D printed open-source humanoid robot.

2020 - Reachy meets World

Reachy is officially launched at CES 2020 and has since gained recognition in the most renowned robotics and AI laboratories worldwide. To date, around 100 Reachy robots are used in about 20 countries around the globe.

2021 - VR teleoperation opens up new horizons

Launched at CES 2021, this feature allows you to take control of Reachy remotely, using standard VR equipment such as Meta Quest 2. Reachy simultaneously replicates the operator’s movements, who “sees” through the robot’s eyes. Not only is it now possible to test specific applications right away or collect data around robotic manipulation tasks, it also makes Reachy’s technology accessible to bigger crowds, with a no-code approach to interactive robotics.

2022 - We win 2nd place at XPRIZE competition

Pollen Robotics wins 2nd place of the ANA Avatar XPRIZE, claiming $2M. With this prize, we are showing the world what a small startup can achieve: building a solid robotic avatar that can perform significant real-world tasks, bringing service robotics forward — all this with limited resources (but a lot of brain power). Since we are competing with the first iteration of Reachy’s future version, this confirms that we are on the right track in terms of our R&D roadmap.

2023 - We plant a seed

After a solid 7 years relying on our revenue sales, in April 2023 we secured our seed funding agreement for a sum of €2.4 million. This funding currently helps us accelerate our commercial development and work on a more robust robotic platform adapted to real-world environments.

2024 - Reachy 2 is about to make history

Our much-awaited new robotic platform is finally ready to be launched. With a state-of-the-art 3D vision system and more powerful arms using new motorization, Reachy 2 will strive to become the reference as a research platform for AI and robotics labs around the world.

Ana Avatar XPRIZE - the Behind-the-Scenes documentary

Probably our team’s biggest pride to date, the ANA Avatar XPRIZE is an international competition on teleoperated robotics that gathers the best research teams in the world. This prize was earned through some intense weeks of grind and perseverance as well as incredible teamwork. Watch this in-house made documentary and learn about this phenomenal journey.

Our Quirky Mission for People, Planet, Progress

Our vision is that the company should work for and benefit the people and the world, not the other way around. We value honesty, integrity, humility and we believe that treating people right is the only good way to do business.

How does this translate?

No strings attached

We’re all about spreading the smarts and tech goodies to everyone, no strings attached — thanks to our open-source vibe. Crafting our hardware to be robust and easily fixable is our little contribution to the planet, which, let’s be real, is drowning in junk.

Community high-five

When it comes to making stuff, we keep it local and treat our workers right because good vibes should extend to everyone involved. Oh, and we’ve got this sweet deal for open-source projects — 50% off our services. It’s like a high-five to the open-source community.

Smiling Mother Earth <3

But wait, there’s more eco-love! We’re dishing out our services totally free to projects protecting the environment, doing our bit to keep Mother Earth smiling. And hey, sorry pewpew fans, but we’re steering clear of any military moolah. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

New skills along the way

We trust our crew to do their thing — autonomy is the name of the game. Fancy learning something new? We’re all for it! We encourage our team to pick up new skills because a little growth never hurt nobody.

Serious about fun

Welcome to Pollen Robotics, where we seamlessly blend groundbreaking tech with a touch of awkwardness. Our workspace is a playground, and we take our fun as seriously as our latest projects. Join us and discover a place where every code line has its own unique charm, and serious breakthroughs come with an added twist of laughter in the realm of the awkward. At Pollen, we prove that robots can be serious business without losing their sense of playfulness in the wonderfully awkward dance of innovation. Work hard, laugh awkwardly harder, and let’s build robots.