Hugging Face's Pollen Robotics unveiled the Microduck robot on August 27, 2026, a bipedal duck-inspired robot priced at $399 that stands about 25 cm (just under 10 inches) tall and weighs under 800 grams (approximately 1.7 pounds) [1, 2, 3, 4]. The robot can roller-skate, walk, waddle, pick up objects with its articulated beak, recover from falls, sit, crouch, and follow a laser pointer [1, 2, 3, 5].
Microduck is designed as an open-source platform for robotics developers to experiment with reinforcement learning, physical AI behaviors, and robotics. Its software includes an SDK, simulation environment using Nvidia's MuJoCo Warp framework, and reinforcement learning stack, all available on GitHub [2, 6, 5]. The robot runs on a Rockchip RK3566 processor and integrates a camera, LiDAR, motion sensors, two IMUs, and 15 motors for articulation [1, 2, 5].
The robot comes in cream, graphite, lavender, and sky blue colors and features a unique "voice" with quirky, creature-like sounds generated at first startup, making each unit distinct [1, 5]. The battery lasts about one hour depending on usage. A roller skate accessory pack sells separately for $39 [3].
Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue said, "Welcome to the era of open-source affordable robots to democratize physical AI and world models!" emphasizing the robot's role in opening up physical AI to developers [2, 3].
Microduck saw strong market interest, generating approximately $2.6 million in sales orders within 24 hours of preorder launch on August 27, 2026, averaging roughly one unit sold every four seconds [3, 4].
Hugging Face acquired French startup Pollen Robotics in April 2025 and plans to begin shipping Microduck before Christmas 2026 [2, 3, 5, 4]. The company is also reportedly in talks for an acquisition by Nvidia at a valuation exceeding $13 billion [2, 3].
