News30 October 20266 min readAlan Fox

Reachy Mini Level Up: wheels, NFC hats and a phone app

Reachy Mini Level Up from Pollen adds a $149 wheeled base and $35 NFC hats. Phone-app limits, privacy notes, and similar robots you can buy on Amazon UK.

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Pollen Robotics, Hugging Face's robotics team, announced Reachy Mini Level Up on 29 October 2026: a $149 wheeled base, a $35 NFC hat pack, and phone apps for its open-source desktop robot. Circuit Digest, Tao Media and Robots at Home covered it. It is not on Amazon UK.

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Image: Pollen Robotics.

What Pollen announced

On the Reachy Mini page, the Hoverboard is a $149 pre-order: two wheels, soft tyres, a built-in battery and electronics, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB-C. It arrives assembled. Dock and lock the robot on, then drive from the phone with live camera video. It sits down when it stops or powers off. Wireless only, not Lite.

The NFC Accessory Pack is $35, for Wireless and Lite: a chef hat, a crown with gems, a pirate hat with a feather, an NFC module (board, mount, cable and screws) you install in the head, four extra NFC tags and eight magnets. A hat switches character in the conversation app. Pollen says a tag can point at your own personality or code.

Wireless is $499 (Raspberry Pi CM4 and battery built in). Lite is $399 and runs from a Mac, PC or Linux machine over USB. Pollen's page says "500+ apps, one click install", which Circuit Digest also reported. These are US dollars, before shipping, import duties and taxes. There is no sterling price, and that page link is not an affiliate link.

Tao Media reports Pollen expects the first accessory orders to dispatch at the end of January 2027. Pollen's store listing says the same, and that designs may still change. Robots at Home said the main page only says "Pre-order", with no date. That January line is a report, not a promise.

The phone app, and what Lite still needs

Pollen's page says you can set the robot up from a phone, with no computer. The getting-started guide limits that to Wireless: a free iOS and Android app, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a Hugging Face sign-in. Thomas Wolf, a Hugging Face co-founder, said on X on 29 October 2026 that the apps remove the need for a computer. The same product page still says Lite needs a Mac, PC or Linux machine over USB, which does the thinking. The Hoverboard does not fit Lite.

What AI does here

Pollen says conversation is built in: it answers out loud and looks at you. Hats change that personality. Community apps on Hugging Face include games, art, teleoperation and camera views.

Wireless runs on its Pi. Lite uses your computer. Talk is separate: the conversation app uses Hugging Face's realtime voice service by default, so audio goes there unless you change it. A local mode, published by Hugging Face, can run speech recognition, the language model and the voice on a computer you control, with open models from the Hub. That is optional. Pollen does not say the Pi does it alone.

Camera, microphones and data

Both versions have a camera and four microphones. The Hoverboard streams live camera video to the phone while you drive.

Robots at Home reports that, since software 1.13.0 on 26 October 2026, the robot sends anonymous usage events to Pollen by default. One app switch turns them off. Pollen's release notes call it "Share anonymous usage data" and say those events are not pictures or audio. Check it at setup. Keep the robot out of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Who it is for

Teens and adults. Pollen publishes no age rating, so we will not invent one. A parent handles setup, accounts, Wi-Fi and charging for under-18s. The kit takes about two and a half hours, with no soldering. The Hoverboard arrives built. The NFC board does not. Keep magnets, tags and small parts away from young children. Wireless and the Hoverboard use lithium batteries: charge nearby on a hard surface, using Pollen's charger. The Wireless pack has a management system and a temperature sensor.

Pros and cons

Open apps, character hats, an assembled base and phone setup for Wireless. Lite still needs a computer and cannot use the wheels. The January dispatch date is only reported, and the camera and usage-data switch need a decision first.

Similar robots on Amazon UK

Buyable on Amazon UK on 30 October 2026. Price correct as of 30 October 2026, for every figure in this section. An adult supervises charging, apps and kits, and keeps small parts from young children.

Anki Vector

Listing: it drives itself, recognises faces and talks. ChatGPT needs a subscription. Wi-Fi setup uses a computer on 2.4 GHz. See the Anki Vector 2.0 review.

£189.99, in stock, sold by Anki llc.

Check price on Amazon