Microduck, the $399 robot duck that went viral with Jensen Huang, nears 20,000 preorders

What is Microduck?

Microduck is a small walking robot shaped like a duck. Pollen Robotics, a company owned by Hugging Face, makes it. Pollen says it stands 25 cm tall, has 15 motors, a camera, LiDAR and two motion sensors, and comes with seven trained moves.

It is sold as a robot you can train yourself. Pollen says every behaviour is a policy that owners can retrain on their own computer, then share with other owners.

Why did Microduck go viral?

TechCrunch reports that a video of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang playing with a flock of Microducks during his keynote at GTC Berlin went viral this week. On voice command, the robots sat, took a "nap" and did somersaults, according to TechCrunch.

Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue then posted that preorders were about to pass 20,000. TechCrunch and Gigazine both report his post. We have not seen the post ourselves, so we label this part Reported.

How much does Microduck cost, and when does it ship?

Pollen Robotics lists Microduck at $399 before taxes and shipping. Preorders opened on 27 August 2026. The robot comes in four colours.

TechCrunch says deliveries are expected in time for Christmas. Preorders show how many people want one, not how many robots have shipped.

Can you teach Microduck new tricks?

Yes, according to Pollen. Moves are learned in a physics simulation, then sent to the real robot. Owners can retrain them, refine the simulation and publish their own moves for others.

Pollen says the software, the simulation and the full training code are open source on GitHub under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its list of moves includes walking, sitting and standing, a kick, picking things up with its beak, getting back up after a fall and roller skating.

Why does it matter?

Most robots people see online are in labs or factories. Microduck is a $399 robot that ordinary people can order, teach and share, and it shows how fast interest in small, friendly robots can build when a clip travels.

Demand is still a promise until the robots arrive. Whether the first batch works as well at home as it did on stage is the thing to watch.

What's next?

First deliveries are expected before Christmas. Hugging Face has not published a final preorder number, and Delangue's post said only that the total would probably pass 20,000.