Pollen Robotics, a startup under Hugging Face, has announced 'Microduck,' a singing, gliding duck-shaped robot.
Meet Microduck | Pollen Robotics
https://pollen-robotics.com/microduck/blog/introducing-microduck/
Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics announced the humanoid robots 'HopeJR' and 'Reachy Mini' in May 2026. HopeJR is a full-sized humanoid robot that can walk and move its arms, while Reachy Mini is a compact robot consisting only of a head and body that can move its head and communicate.
Hugging Face announces open-source humanoid robot 'HopeJR' and desktop unit 'Reachy Mini' - GIGAZINE
According to Pollen Robotics, their small desktop robot, Reachy Mini, has sold over 10,000 units worldwide since its release. Therefore, they developed a new robot, 'Microduck,' which is small but not fixed to a desk, and also has the ability to move around.
Microduck is a bipedal robot standing 25cm tall and weighing just under 800g. It features 15 motors, a camera, a small depth sensor, two inertial measurement units (IMUs), and an articulated beak capable of grasping objects. It can walk, sit, squat, stand up after falling, and roller skate.
According to Pollen Robotics, while Reachy Mini is designed around 'interaction' such as communication, MicroDuck is designed around 'action,' so it can make beeps and play melodies, but it cannot converse.
However, Pollen Robotics argues that MicroDuck is an ideal platform for developers because it is small, lightweight, allows for easy testing of physical AI, and even if it fails, it is less likely to result in a major accident.
Microduck comes with pre-trained actions that can be controlled with a gamepad, such as walking or triggering specific actions, so you can start using it right away. For more advanced development, the SDK and robot software are available in the MicroDuck repository on GitHub, and reinforcement learning tools and tools for deploying simulations to real environments are available in the reinforcement learning repository .
Microduck comes in four colors: Sky, Graphite, Cream, and Lavender. The price is $399 (approximately 63,000 yen), excluding tax and shipping.
Pollen Robotics stated, 'We are already considering various uses for Microduck, but a more interesting list will emerge from the community. These ideas should be easily reproducible, modified, and shared. That's where Hugging Face can naturally fit in. Models are useful because people can build upon each other's research. We want to make physical behaviors, along with the necessary environments and training methods to reproduce them, equally easy to share. Microduck will not solve all the problems in robotics, nor is that its purpose. We hope that Microduck will make it easier to tackle those problems and provide more people with the opportunity to learn firsthand how AI moves from simulation to real machines.'
Related Posts:
