Hugging Face launches $399 open-source duck robot, Microduck

Hugging Face on Thursday introduced Microduck, a small duck-shaped robot priced at $399 that is set to ship before the end of the year. CEO Clem Delangue described it as an open-source robot that owners can teach new tricks using reinforcement learning.

Standing 25 centimeters tall, the duck-like robot can waddle, pick up objects weighing up to 800 grams with its beak, right itself after falling, crouch, and even roller skate. Delangue framed the launch as part of a broader push toward affordable, open-source robots meant to democratize physical AI and world models.

From model hub to hardware

Hugging Face has traditionally been known as a hub where developers access open-source AI model weights rather than a hardware maker. That changed in April 2025, when the company acquired French startup Pollen Robotics to build low-cost, open-source AI hardware. Months later, the pair launched Reachy Mini, a compact desktop robot now sold in two versions: the $499 Reachy Mini, powered by a Raspberry Pi, and the $399 Reachy Mini Lite, which relies on a connected Mac or PC.

Microduck is equipped with a camera, lidar sensors, and two inertial measurement units to sense its surroundings and movement. According to Pollen Robotics, the robot's behaviors can be trained in simulation and then deployed directly onto the physical device, with owners able to fine-tune, retrain, and redeploy those behaviors afterward. The software development kit, simulation environment, and full reinforcement-learning training stack are all published on GitHub.

Addressing potential privacy concerns about a camera-equipped robot in homes, Delangue has previously argued that open-source models offer better privacy protections than closed, black-box systems controlled by a handful of companies. Still, open-source code alone doesn't guarantee data stays private, since third-party applications installed on top of the robot can access its camera and microphone and potentially transmit that data externally.

The Microduck launch comes as Hugging Face is reportedly nearing an acquisition by Nvidia valued at around $13 billion. Nvidia has supplied Hugging Face's infrastructure for years, and the two companies have long presented a united front in advocating for open-source AI development.