Industry Odisha Bureau, Aug 29: Hugging Face has launched Microduck, a small open source robot designed to help developers and researchers experiment with physical AI. Priced at $399 (about Rs 33,000), the duck shaped robot can walk, pick up objects, kick a ball and learn new behaviours from humans.
Notably, Microduck stands 25 cm tall and weighs less than 800 grams. It has 15 motors, a camera, a LiDAR sensor and two inertial measurement units to help with movement and balance. Its movable beak also works as a gripper and can lift objects weighing up to 800 grams.
The robot comes with seven trained behaviours. These include walking, sitting, standing, crouching, kicking, picking up objects and recovering after a fall. It can also roller skate and can be controlled using a game controller or laser pointer.
According to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue, Microduck is built around reinforcement learning. Users can train behaviours in a simulation and then transfer them to the physical robot. The company is making the software development kit, simulation tools and reinforcement learning resources open source.
Microduck also uses sounds instead of spoken language. Its microphone and speaker give each robot its own audio identity.
The robot is being developed by Pollen Robotics, the Bordeaux based team that joined Hugging Face in 2025. It focuses more on movement and physical AI.
Pre-orders for the Microduck robot opened on August 27 for $399. The robot comes in Cream, Graphite, Lavender, and Sky colours. First deliveries are expected before Christmas 2026 in North America, Europe, and the UK.
