Hugging Face has released an open AI model called SmolVLA, trained on community-shared datasets. The lightweight model outperforms larger models in both virtual and real-world environments. The model aims to democratize access to vision-language-action models and accelerate research towards generalist robotic agents. Hugging Face is expanding its low-cost robotics hardware and software ecosystem, including LeRobot and Pollen Robotics, which offer inexpensive robotics systems, including humanoids, for purchase.