Hugging Face Inc. on Thursday unveiled Microduck, a $399 open-source robot designed to make artificial intelligence and robotics more accessible to the public.
The bipedal, duck-inspired device features a single eye and can walk, pick up objects, recover from falls and roller-skate. Sales are scheduled to begin later in 2025, with developers able to teach it new physical skills using reinforcement learning, simulation and open-source software. Coding can be done in Python or JavaScript, targeting both beginner and advanced users.
The Microduck represents Hugging Face’s second robotics product, following its acquisition of Pollen Robotics, a Bordeaux-based robotics firm, last year. The announcement comes amid ongoing media reports of Nvidia Corp. nearing a potential deal to acquire Hugging Face, with a reported valuation of roughly $13 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Clement Delangue described the Microduck on X as 'a tiny $399 open-source robot you can teach new tricks with reinforcement learning' and added, 'Welcome to the era of open-source affordable robots to democratize physical AI and world models!'
