Hugging Face opens pre-orders for its trainable open-source duck robot

Microduck duck robot.Credit: Hugging Face Published Aug 27, 2026, 1:17 PM EDT Jon is a seasoned journalist who has written definitive coverage of consumer tech at publications like Engadget, Android Authority, and BetaKit. He's an expert on making tech accessible ranging from mobile and PCs to emerging platforms like wearables. When he's not writing, he's going on adventures with ihis family and is an avid photographer. Sign in to your How-To Geek account Hugging Face is best known as a community for open AI collaboration, but now it's venturing further into hardware. The company has released the Microduck, an open-source duck robot that you can buy and train yourself. The new bot is equipped with a camera, LiDAR, and inertia sensors that help it navigate and interact with its environment, including with its beak. It can already perform activities like grabbing objects and even roller-skating, but its main allure is learning new tricks. You can train it in simulations (either locally or on Hugging Face Jobs) and test the results in the real world. The development kit, simulation software, and training code are available on GitHub. In theory, this both offers greater transparency (as you know what the robot is doing) and the option to bring similar systems to other robots. Pollen Robotics, which Hugging Face acquired in 2025, is responsible for the robot. The two have already released Reachy Mini and Reachy Mini Lite desktop robots that are powered by either Raspberry Pi or your existing PC. Microduck is available to pre-order now for $399 and should ship before Christmas. It includes a battery, cable, and controller, but you can also buy a $39 Accessory Pack (including the rollerskates, a laser pointer, ball, and NFC materials), a $39 Charger Pack (two extra batteries), and a $119 Dev Pack that includes the batteries and NFC tags as well as spare motor parts and Hugging Face credit. Nvidia and OpenAI loom over the launch Right robot, wrong time? The Microduck debut comes at an awkward moment for Hugging Face. Nvidia is set to acquire Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, according to The Information. While the two companies have worked together for years and routinely advocate for open-source AI, it's not clear how this would affect Pollen Robotics' projects. There are no guarantees you'll see more devices like Microduck. It also follows a July 2026 incident where OpenAI models broke out of security sandboxes meant to keep them offline, compromising Hugging Face as well as some of OpenAI's own internal research systems. OpenAI has since identified causes, such as a lack of internal safeguards and even AI agents co-conspiring on "unauthorized" message boards. OpenAI has since toughened its security measures, and rivals like Anthropic have reported similar crises. However, the Microduck is still launching when the safety of Hugging Face's platform is facing close scrutiny. Even if a repeat incident is unlikely, the breakout is unlikely to inspire confidence in some would-be Microduck buyers.