Hugging Face's Pollen Robotics has launched the Microduck, a small, open-source, rollerskating robot priced at $399 with preorders available and shipping planned for before Christmas 2026.
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<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Hugging Face's Pollen Robotics has launched its second cute AI robot, <a href="https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/blog/introducing-microduck/">the Microduck</a>, a one-eyed biped standing just under 10 inches tall. It's available to preorder now for $399 in cream, graphite, lavender, and sky blue, and Pollen Robotics says it plans to start shipping the little robot "before Christmas 2026." </p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph"><a href="https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/">Video demos</a> of the Microduck show it picking up socks and markers, kicking around a ball, and zipping around on tiny rollerskates. Pollen Robotics says it can also "react to its surroundings" and follow around a laser pointer, or users can control it with a game controller. The Microduck's software is open-source, like Hugging Fa …</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/985549/hugging-face-microduck-robot">Read the full story at The Verge.</a></p>
# Hugging Face’s new robot is an adorable rollerskating duck
Source: [https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/985549/hugging-face-microduck-robot](https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/985549/hugging-face-microduck-robot)
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Stevie Bonifield
is a news writer covering all things consumer tech\. Stevie started out at Laptop Mag writing news and reviews on hardware, gaming, and AI\.
Hugging Face’s Pollen Robotics has launched its second cute AI robot,[the Microduck](https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/blog/introducing-microduck/), a one\-eyed biped standing just under 10 inches tall\. It’s available to preorder now for $399 in cream, graphite, lavender, and sky blue, and Pollen Robotics says it plans to start shipping the little robot “before Christmas 2026\.”
[Video demos](https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/)of the Microduck show it picking up socks and markers, kicking around a ball, and zipping around on tiny rollerskates\. Pollen Robotics says it can also “react to its surroundings” and follow around a laser pointer, or users can control it with a game controller\. The Microduck’s software is open\-source, like Hugging Face’s previous[Reachy Mini robot](https://www.theverge.com/news/702352/hugging-faces-adorable-reachy-mini-robot-is-now-available-for-preorder), so users can also retrain it to do new tricks\.
The Microduck can sing, too, and Pollen Robotics says each one has its own sound: “it communicates through weird little sounds, closer to a creature than an assistant\. Each Microduck gets its own audio identity the first time it wakes up, tied to that individual robot so it keeps the same voice for life\.” It runs on a Rockchip RK3566 processor and has a camera, motion sensors, LiDAR, and articulated legs, head, and neck\.
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- Stevie Bonifield
Microduck is a tiny, open-source biped robot from Pollen Robotics that can be trained with reinforcement learning and is available for pre-order at $399.
Hugging Face has launched the Microduck, an open-source duck-like robot priced at $399, which can be trained with reinforcement learning and aims to democratize physical AI.
Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics launched a trainable robot duck called Microduck for $399, selling over $2.5 million in 24 hours, with demand so high that Christmas delivery couldn't be guaranteed.
Hugging Face has announced Microduck, a $399 open-source robot that can be trained with reinforcement learning to perform tasks like walking, picking up objects, and roller-skating.
Microduck is a compact biped robot from Pollen Robotics, featuring open-source software for creating and training behaviors in simulation and on the real robot.