{"id":745627,"date":"2026-08-31T18:25:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T15:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T18:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T15:25:19","slug":"hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/","title":{"rendered":"Hugging Face is selling a $399 robot duck with open-source software"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_87 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a9e235e9370c\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a9e235e9370c\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/#The_software_is_open_the_hardware_is_not\" >The software is open, the hardware is not<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/#It_cannot_lift_much\" >It cannot lift much<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/#Autonomy_is_left_to_the_community\" >Autonomy is left to the community<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/#Every_robot_gets_its_own_voice\" >Every robot gets its own voice<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/#The_launch_lands_in_the_middle_of_a_129bn_deal\" >The launch lands in the middle of a $12.9bn deal<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-399-robot-duck-with-open-source-software\/#A_camera_in_the_bedroom\" >A camera in the bedroom<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media.thenextweb.com\/2026\/08\/microduck-robots-playing-football.avif\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-main-content\">\n<p>Pollen Robotics has unveiled a bipedal robot called Microduck, at an introductory price of $399 before taxes and shipping. The Bordeaux company is owned by the AI platform Hugging Face. Its new machine has one eye and 15 motors, stands 25cm tall, and weighs under 800g. Preorders opened on Thursday. Pollen is targeting first deliveries before Christmas 2026 in North America, Europe and the UK.<\/p>\n<p>The robot walks, crouches, rights itself when it falls, and picks small objects up with its beak. Videos on the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pollen-robotics.com\/microduck\/blog\/introducing-microduck\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">launch post<\/a> show it collecting socks and a marker pen. An optional accessory pack adds wheeled feet so it can roller skate, along with a ball, an NFC chip and tags, and a laser pointer it follows with its camera.<\/p>\n<p>Microduck runs on a Rockchip RK3566 with an AI accelerator, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage, a part number first reported by <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/gadgets\/985549\/hugging-face-microduck-robot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Verge<\/a>. It sees through a front camera and judges distance with a compact LiDAR, an 8\u00d78 time-of-flight matrix. One inertial measurement unit sits in the body and a second in the head. A 50Hz policy loop connects the onboard model to those sensors and decides what the robot does next, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/ai-and-ml\/2026\/08\/27\/hugging-face-offers-399-robot-duck-to-help-you-quack-the-ai-code\/5293011\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Register<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>It runs on a removable NP-F550 camera battery, a 2600mAh cell common in video kit, giving around an hour of runtime.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_software_is_open_the_hardware_is_not\"><\/span>The software is open, the hardware is not<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The whole software stack ships open source, and it is out already. The SDK and robot software sit in one GitHub repository, the reinforcement learning and sim-to-real tools in another, months before the first robot arrives. A developer can teach a skill in simulation, then push it onto the machine. European robotics firms increasingly work this way, and NEURA Robotics is building robot gyms.<\/p>\n<p>The hardware is a different matter, and Pollen is unusually direct about it. Its <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pollen-robotics.com\/microduck\/press-kit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">press kit<\/a> tells journalists that the open-source statement covers the software stack only. The mechanical and electronic design files are not open, and it asks reporters not to describe the robot as open-source hardware. A Pollen representative separately told The Register the company has no plans to open source it.<\/p>\n<p>Buyers get an open stack on a closed chassis. Pollen already uses that arrangement for Reachy Mini, which it says has sold more than 10,000 units since launching last year.<\/p>\n<p>Clement Delangue, Hugging Face\u2019s chief executive, called it \u201ca tiny $399 open-source robot you can teach new tricks with reinforcement learning\u201d. His post on X has drawn 4.4 million views. He has spent the past year arguing that open models are winning. \u201cWelcome to the era of open-source affordable robots to democratize physical AI and world models,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"It_cannot_lift_much\"><\/span>It cannot lift much<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Santiago Pavon of Pollen Robotics put the robot\u2019s lifting capacity at roughly 100 grams. That is about the weight of a bar of soap. The beak articulates and the camera can find an object, but Pavon accepts that grasping will stay limited on a machine this size. TechCrunch published a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/08\/27\/hugging-face-is-selling-a-cute-399-open-source-duck-robot-microduck\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">correction to its launch story<\/a> after misstating how much the beak could carry.<\/p>\n<p>Pollen is not selling a household helper. The Register called Microduck a cheap testbed for teaching people about hardware AI, machine learning and modern robotics. It is not an in-home butler or a cleaner. The framing matters in a year when robot demonstrations have outrun the machines. The humanoid that beat Usain Bolt\u2019s record in Beijing left roboticists unimpressed.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Autonomy_is_left_to_the_community\"><\/span>Autonomy is left to the community<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>What Microduck does not have is any purpose of its own. Pollen wants owners to build voice recognition, navigation and grasping on top of the platform. It also wants simultaneous localisation and m<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ing. The company is asking for help rather than promising a roadmap, which makes this a bet on a user base that does not exist yet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAdding purpose and autonomy to the robot is something we are still working on, and we expect the community to pick up and contribute,\u201d Pavon said. He described autonomous behaviour as a community objective, and called the idea exciting. Anyone can train new behaviours in simulation using reinforcement learning, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Pollen\u2019s own answer to what people should build is more ducks. It says the robot is about ten times more fun in groups. Races, football and robots reacting to each other are what made it feel alive internally. For developers it is a cheap way into multi-robot behaviour, without a room full of hardware.<\/p>\n<p>Pollen is not the only firm trying to standardise how AI models reach real hardware. Anthropic published a standard for lab hardware on the same day Microduck went up for preorder.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Every_robot_gets_its_own_voice\"><\/span>Every robot gets its own voice<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microduck sings, and no two sound alike. Pollen says it \u201ccommunicates through weird little sounds, closer to a creature than an assistant\u201d, and that each robot generates its own audio identity the first time it wakes up. That voice stays with the unit for life. It comes in cream, graphite, lavender and sky.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_launch_lands_in_the_middle_of_a_129bn_deal\"><\/span>The launch lands in the middle of a $12.9bn deal<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Hugging Face bought Pollen Robotics in April 2025 to build cheap open hardware. The two launched Reachy Mini a couple of months later. That desktop robot now sells in two versions. A $499 model runs on a Raspberry Pi, and a $399 Lite runs off a Mac or a PC.<\/p>\n<p>Microduck arrives in the middle of a takeover. <em>The Information<\/em> reported that Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9bn. That followed reports days earlier that put the two in talks over a sale. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/nvidia-in-talks-to-buy-hugging-face-13-billion-dollars-2026-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Business Insider<\/a> put the figure above $13bn, citing a person familiar with the matter, and said the two sides had not finalised an agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody involved is discussing it. Pavon answered questions about Microduck but not about the Nvidia deal. Neither Nvidia nor Hugging Face replied to The Register, and both have stayed quiet since the Business Insider story broke. Nobody has said what the deal would mean for a small French robotics subsidiary.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_camera_in_the_bedroom\"><\/span>A camera in the bedroom<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Microduck carries a camera and a microphone, and Pollen expects people to put it in their homes. There is at least a light: the robot has a dedicated camera-use indicator, which Pollen says is modelled on the REC lights of old camcorders.<\/p>\n<p>That is the fix Meta reached for on its smart glasses this month, after people worked out how to cover the LED. Delangue has argued before that robots running open models beat \u201ca black box system\u201d controlled by a handful of organisations, \u201cespecially if these organizations\u2019 CEO is not the most stable person in the world,\u201d he told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n<p>Open source gives developers auditability, TechCrunch noted, but it does not guarantee that data stays private. Owners install applications on top of the model, and those apps can reach the camera and the microphone. What they do with it depends on how a developer builds them.<\/p>\n<p>Some numbers are still soft. Pollen says camera resolution, LiDAR range, radio versions, SDK languages and any age recommendation are provisional.<\/p>\n<p>Two things will show whether the pitch holds. The first is whether units ship before Christmas 2026, the date Pollen has given. The second is whether anyone outside the company publishes a behaviour worth installing, because the autonomy Pollen is promising is work it has asked other people to do.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/news\/hugging-face-microduck-399-open-source-robot\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pollen Robotics has unveiled a bipedal robot called Microduck, at an introductory price of $399 before taxes and shipping. The Bordeaux company is owned by the AI platform Hugging Face. Its new machine has one eye and 15 motors, stands 25cm tall, and weighs under 800g. Preorders opened on Thursday. Pollen is targeting first deliveries&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-745627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}