SmolVLA: A Small Giant in Vision-Language-Action
A compact 450M parameter model trained entirely on open community data demonstrates significant efficiency gains.
Key Achievements: - 26% performance gain from open-source data - Operates on standard computing devices (no supercomputers needed) - 30% faster with clever async inference - Fully open-sourced: weights, training code, evaluation tools
Validation: Tested across multiple benchmarks: - Meta-World - LIBERO - SO100 - SO101
Resources: - Blog post with full details - Model weights on Hugging Face - Paper: arXiv:2506.01844
Hugging Face Enters Hardware: Meet HopeJR & Reachy Mini
Two new open-source humanoid robots launched to democratize robotics development.
HopeJR
Full-sized walking and manipulation robot - Complete locomotion - Dexterous manipulation - Priced under $3,000 - Open-source design
Reachy Mini
Compact desktop unit - Price: ~$300 - Desktop form factor - Perfect for education - Prototype testing platform
Mission: Making advanced robotics accessible for developers, educators, and researchers focusing on AI integration and prototype development.
RIP ROS1 – May 31, 2025
After 15 years of service, ROS1 officially reached end-of-life. The community is now fully transitioning to ROS2.
ROS1 Legacy (2007-2025): - Revolutionized robot software development - Enabled thousands of research projects - Built massive open-source ecosystem - Industry standard for over a decade
ROS2 Advantages: - Real-time support - DDS-based messaging architecture - Multi-robot capabilities - Better security - Cross-platform support - Production-ready
ROS1 Support for Unitree Go1
Despite ROS1's end-of-life, community support continues. Piyush Goenka released a custom package bridging Unitree's Python SDK with ROS Melodic.
Features: - Publishes HighState messages at 10 Hz - Python 2.7/3 compatibility - Maintains Unitree SDK integration - Legacy robot support
GitHub: unitree_high_state_publisher
MCP Servers for ROS/ROS2
Two community projects offering Model Control Protocol integration: