Training Data Building the "App Store" for Robots: Hugging Face's Thomas Wolf on Physical AI
168 snips
Sep 9, 2025 
In this engaging discussion, Thomas Wolf, Co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Hugging Face, dives into the world of robotics. He shares his vision for LeRobot, aiming to democratize robotics with open-source tools and affordable hardware. Thomas emphasizes the shift in community-driven innovation, likening today’s robotics landscape to earlier advancements in AI. He explores challenges like data scarcity and the potential to empower software developers to become roboticists. The talk highlights the excitement around transparency and accessibility in advancing technology.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Robotics Is Reaching A Software Inflection
- Robotics is at a transformers-like inflection where software, not hardware, was the missing piece enabling rapid progress.
- Hugging Face began robotics work 18 months ago and expanded into hardware to catalyze that shift.
Unify Models, Data, And Hardware
- Combine policies, models, datasets, and hardware in one platform to accelerate robotic development.
- Build a central library that exposes algorithms, datasets, and actuator integrations for developers.
Local Models Matter More For Robot Safety
- Open-source and local hosting matter more in robotics because robots may need to run without connectivity.
- Local models improve safety when physical consequences matter more than LLM hallucinations.