Hugging Face is selling a cute $399 open-source duck robot, Microduck

Hugging Face unveiled the Microduck connected Thursday, a cute small duck-like robot that sells for $399 — and ships earlier Christmas. 

Clem Delangue, CEO of Hugging Face, said the Microduck is an “open-source robot you tin thatch caller tricks with reinforcement learning.” The 25-centimeter-tall duck tin waddle, prime things up with its beak (up to 800 grams), get backmost up erstwhile it falls, crouch, and adjacent roller skate.

“Welcome to the epoch of open-source affordable robots to democratize carnal AI and satellite models!” Delangue said. 

Hugging Face is champion known arsenic a level and assemblage wherever developers spell for unfastened exemplary weights. However, the institution acquired French startup Pollen Robotics successful April 2025 to physique affordable, open-source AI hardware. A mates of months later, the 2 launched Reachy Mini, a tiny desktop robot. Today, they merchantability the $499 Reachy Mini, which is powered by a Raspberry Pi computer, and the $399 Reachy Mini Lite, powered by a Mac oregon PC. 

The caller Microduck perceives the satellite with a camera, lidar sensors, and 2 IMUs (inertial measurement units that measurement and study an object’s movement). 

Pollen Robotics noted that the Microduck’s behaviors tin beryllium trained successful simulation and straight deployed connected the robot. Developers tin past fine-tune the bot, re-train it, and re-deploy it. The SDK (software improvement kit), simulation, and afloat RL grooming stack are disposable connected GitHub.

For those who mightiness find it concerning to person a robot with a camera successful their bedrooms and backstage spaces, Delangue previously told TechCrunch that bots tally by open-source models are overmuch amended from a privateness standpoint than “a achromatic container system” controlled by a fewer organizations, “especially if these organizations’ CEO is not the astir unchangeable idiosyncratic successful the world.” 

While unfastened root gives developers auditability and control, it doesn’t supply a warrant that delicate information remains backstage aft consumers commencement installing bundle applications connected apical of the model. Those apps tin entree the bot’s cameras and microphones and, depending connected however they’re built, nonstop that information to outer services.

The motorboat of the Microduck comes arsenic Hugging Face is reportedly set to beryllium acquired by Nvidia astatine a $13 cardinal valuation. Nvidia and Hugging Face person been partners for years, with Nvidia providing the startup’s infrastructure since astatine slightest 2023. Both companies person besides been publically aligned successful promoting open-source AI. 

Hugging Face was precocious successful the headlines implicit a cybersecurity incident that occurred aft OpenAI’s systems breached its sandbox during information investigating and hacked into the platform’s servers.

TechCrunch has reached retired to Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics for much information.