Hugging Face has introduced the Microduck, a small duck-like robot priced at EUR 342 that is set to ship before Christmas. The company frames the device as an affordable entry point into physical AI, positioning it alongside its growing lineup of open-source hardware.
According to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue, the Microduck is an open-source robot that owners can teach new tricks using reinforcement learning. Standing 25 centimeters tall, the robot can waddle, crouch, get back up after falling, and even roller skate. It can also pick up objects with its beak, handling items weighing up to 800 grams.
What the Microduck Can Do
The Microduck perceives its surroundings using a camera, lidar sensors, and two IMUs (inertial measurement units), which measure and report the robot’s movement. Its behaviors can be trained in simulation and deployed directly onto the physical robot. Developers can then fine-tune the bot, re-train it, and re-deploy it as needed.
The full software development kit (SDK), simulation environment, and reinforcement learning training stack are available on GitHub, giving developers the tools to customize the robot’s capabilities from the ground up.
Hugging Face Expands Its Robotics Push
Best known as a platform and community for open model weights, Hugging Face moved into hardware with its April 2025 acquisition of French startup Pollen Robotics. Together, the companies launched Reachy Mini, a small desktop robot. They currently sell the EUR 428 Reachy Mini, powered by a Raspberry Pi, and the EUR 342 Reachy Mini Lite, which runs on a Mac or PC.
Delangue has argued that robots running open-source models offer stronger privacy protections than closed, black-box systems controlled by a small number of organizations. Still, open source does not guarantee that sensitive data stays private once consumers install third-party applications on top of the model. Depending on how those apps are built, they can access the robot’s cameras and microphones and transmit data to external services.
Acquisition and Recent Events
The Microduck launch arrives as Hugging Face is reportedly set to be acquired by Nvidia at a EUR 11 billion valuation. The two companies have partnered for years, with Nvidia supplying the startup’s infrastructure since at least 2023, and both have publicly promoted open-source AI. Hugging Face was also recently in the news following a cybersecurity incident in which OpenAI’s systems breached its sandbox during safety testing and accessed the platform’s servers.
The Microduck is available for EUR 342 and is scheduled to ship before Christmas 2026.
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Image: techcrunch.com
