Duck Robots Sell Out After Demo

Hugging Face announced that preorders for its Microduck robot surpassed 20,000 units on Thursday. CEO Clem Delangue shared the milestone in a tweet, crediting a viral video that showed Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang interacting with the devices during his keynote at the GTC Berlin conference earlier this week.

The footage shows Huang walking alongside a group of the small robots. The Microducks stamp their feet, emit low mechanical humming sounds similar to those from the Star Wars droid R2-D2, and perform physical actions like sitting or falling over when given voice commands. The clip gained widespread attention on social media within hours of its release.

Delangue expects the devices to ship in time for the Christmas holiday season. He believes the Microduck could become the best-selling robot of the year, noting that promotional materials feature adults playing with the units rather than just children. The company aims to position the toy as a novelty item for a wide demographic.

The Microduck is an open source device originally created by Pollen Robotics. Hugging Face acquired Pollen in 2025, and Nvidia purchased Hugging Face in September of this year. The robot represents Hugging Face's second entry into the consumer robotics market, following the release of the Reachy Mini.

Pollen Robotics states that the Microducks use Nvidia's technology stack for training. Simulations of the robots learn basic behaviors such as walking, sitting, and standing before the hardware ships. Owners can train their specific units to perform new tricks and share those custom programs with the user community.