Hugging Face unveiled the Microduck on Thursday, an adorable duck-like robot that sells for $399 and will ship before Christmas.
Clem Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, stated that the Microduck is an "open-source robot you can teach new tricks with reinforcement learning." This 25-centimeter-tall duck is capable of waddling, picking up items with its beak (up to 800 grams), recovering when it falls, crouching, and even roller skating.
“Welcome to the era of open-source affordable robots to democratize physical AI and world models!” Delangue declared.
Hugging Face is primarily known as a platform for open model weights, but the company acquired French startup Pollen Robotics in April 2025 to develop affordable, open-source AI hardware. A few months later, the two launched Reachy Mini, a small desktop robot. Today, they offer the $499 Reachy Mini, powered by a Raspberry Pi, and the $499 Reachy Mini Lite, powered by a Mac or PC.
The new Microduck perceives its environment using a camera, lidar sensors, and two IMUs (inertial measurement units).
Pollen Robotics noted that the Microduck's behaviors can be trained in simulation and deployed directly on the robot. Developers can fine-tune, re-train, and re-deploy the bot. The SDK (software development kit), simulation environment, and full reinforcement learning stack are available on GitHub.
For those concerned about having a robot with a camera in their private spaces, Delangue previously told TechCrunch that bots running open-source models are more privacy-friendly than "black box systems" controlled by organizations, especially if those organizations' CEOs are not the most stable individuals.
While open source provides developers with auditability and control, it does not guarantee that sensitive data remains private after consumers install software applications on top of the model. These apps can access the bot's cameras and microphones and, depending on their construction, send that data to external services.
The launch of the Microduck comes as Hugging Face is reportedly set to be acquired by Nvidia at a $13 billion valuation. Nvidia and Hugging Face have been partners for years, with Nvidia providing infrastructure since at least 2023. Both companies are publicly aligned in promoting open-source AI.
Hugging Face recently made headlines due to a cybersecurity incident where OpenAI's systems breached its sandbox during safety testing and hacked the platform's servers.
TechCrunch has reached out to Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics for additional information.
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