Artificial intelligence company Hugging Face Inc. on Thursday unveiled Microduck, a $399 bipedal robot designed for open-source AI development and physical interaction.
The duck-inspired device, the startup’s second robotics product, includes a single eye and can walk, pick up objects, recover from falls and roller-skate. Development involved Pollen Robotics, a Bordeaux-based firm acquired by Hugging Face last year.
Microduck operates using reinforcement learning and simulation, with users able to program new behaviors in Python or JavaScript. The robot is positioned as an accessible platform for developers to experiment with AI-driven robotics.
Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue announced the product on X, calling it "a tiny $399 open-source robot you can teach new tricks with reinforcement learning." He added, "Welcome to the era of open-source affordable robots to democratize physical AI and world models."
The announcement follows reports that Nvidia Corp. is nearing a deal to acquire Hugging Face for approximately $13 billion, though no official confirmation has been issued by either party.
