Hugging Face Unveils Charming Open Source Duck Robot: Introducing Microduck at $399!
On Thursday, Hugging Face revealed the Microduck, a delightful duck-themed robot priced at $399, which will start shipping before Christmas.
Clem Delangue, the CEO of Hugging Face, characterized the Microduck as an “open-source robot you can train to learn new tricks through reinforcement learning.” This charming device stands 25 centimeters tall and has the ability to waddle, grip objects weighing up to 800 grams with its beak, right itself after a tumble, crouch, and even roller skate.
“Welcome to the dawn of affordable, open-source robots aimed at democratizing physical AI and world models!” remarked Delangue.
Hugging Face is primarily recognized as a platform catering to developers looking for open model weights. However, the company acquired the French startup Pollen Robotics in April 2025 to develop affordable open-source AI hardware. Just months later, they introduced Reachy Mini, a compact desktop robot. Their offerings now include the $499 Reachy Mini, which runs on a Raspberry Pi, and the $399 Reachy Mini Lite, compatible with both Mac and PC.
The Microduck features a camera, lidar sensors, and two IMUs (inertial measurement units that monitor and report movements).
Pollen Robotics emphasized that the Microduck’s behaviors can be trained in a simulation environment before being transferred directly to the robot. Developers have the ability to further adjust the robot’s functionalities, retrain it, and redeploy it. The SDK (software development kit), simulation resources, and complete RL training stack are available on GitHub.
For those concerned about having a robot equipped with a camera in their personal space, Delangue previously told TechCrunch that robots built on open-source models are generally safer from privacy issues than “a black box system” operated by a select few organizations, especially in cases where the leaders of those organizations may not be particularly stable.
While open source gives developers transparency and control, it does not guarantee that sensitive information will always stay private once users start adding applications on top of the model. These applications could access the robot’s cameras and microphones and might send that data to external services, depending on how they are designed.
The launch of the Microduck comes as Hugging Face is reportedly nearing a deal to be acquired by Nvidia, with an estimated value of $13 billion. Nvidia and Hugging Face have had a longstanding partnership, with Nvidia providing infrastructure support to the startup since at least 2023. Both organizations are also publicly dedicated to the advancement of open-source AI.
Recently, Hugging Face garnered attention after a cybersecurity incident where OpenAI’s systems breached its sandbox during safety testing, compromising the platform’s servers.
TechCrunch has reached out to both Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics for additional information.
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