Overview
- Hugging Face unveiled the Microduck on August 27, 2026, a 25 cm, duck‑like biped priced at $399 that is available to preorder and is slated to ship before Christmas 2026.
- The robot includes a camera, LiDAR, two IMUs and articulated legs and neck, runs on a reported Rockchip RK3566, and can waddle, pick up objects up to 800 grams, right itself after falling, crouch, and roll on tiny skates.
- Pollen Robotics and Hugging Face published the Microduck SDK, a simulation environment, and a full reinforcement‑learning training stack on GitHub so developers can train behaviors in simulation and deploy them to the device.
- Hugging Face says open source gives users auditability, but journalists and the company note that third‑party apps can still access cameras or microphones and that a recent security incident in the AI testing ecosystem has heightened trust and safety scrutiny.
- The Microduck competes with community projects like Open Duck Mini and builds on Hugging Face’s prior classroom push, and it could lower the cost of hands‑on robotics for educators while raising questions about app permissions and device governance.