Hugging Face Unveils Microduck, a $399 Open-Source Robot Duck That Waddles, Kicks, and Roller-Skates

A 9.8-inch bipedal robot duck from Hugging Face's Pollen Robotics waddles, kicks, picks up objects with its beak, and preorders for $399.

In a field crowded with creeping humanoid robots, Hugging Face has gone small, cheap, and duck-shaped. On Aug. 27 the AI platform unveiled Microduck, a 9.8-inch bipedal robot that waddles, sits, kicks a ball, and picks up objects with its beak — and with a set of optional wheels, it can even roller-skate. It is built by Pollen Robotics, the French robotics company Hugging Face acquired in 2025.

Microduck ships with seven trained moves and a game controller, so it works out of the box — it can also follow a laser pointer and react to NFC tags. Four colors launch first: Cream, Graphite, Lavender, and Sky. Preorders are open now at an introductory $399 before tax and shipping, with first deliveries expected before Christmas 2026 across North America, Europe, and the UK.

The point is not a desk toy. It is open source — the hardware and code live in a public GitHub repository — and owners can teach it new behaviors through reinforcement learning, training in a physics simulation before deploying to the physical duck. Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue framed it as “an open-source robot you can teach new tricks.”