Microduck: The $399 Walking Robot Duck from Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics

Microduck is a 25 cm walking robot duck with an open-source software stack from Pollen Robotics, the French robotics company Hugging Face bought in 2025, priced at $399 before taxes and shipping. More than 10,000 sold in its first days, according to Hugging Face (via CNBC), and NVIDIA published a training tutorial for it on 21 October 2026. We select and research.

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Images: Pollen Robotics press kit.

What it does

Pollen lists 15 motors, a camera, a LiDAR depth sensor, two IMUs and an articulated beak, under 800 g (spec page: 800 g; launch blog: less than 800 g). Seven trained moves: walk, sit, stand, kick, grab, roller skate with skates fitted, and get back up. A gamepad drives it, with no coding. It makes creature-like sounds, not words, and follows a laser dot.

Image: Pollen Robotics press kit.

Teaching new tricks

You train with reinforcement learning in MuJoCo, then run the policy on the robot at 50 Hz (Pollen). Apache-2.0 code is on GitHub as pollen-robotics/microduck, and owners can share policies on the Hugging Face Hub. That takes SSH, a command line and Python. NVIDIA's route needs a Linux PC with a supported NVIDIA graphics card.

Where NVIDIA fits

Pollen and Hugging Face make Microduck. The chip is a Rockchip RK3566 (1 TOPS NPU, per Pollen), not NVIDIA. On 21 October 2026 NVIDIA published an Isaac Lab 3.0 sim-to-real tutorial. Hugging Face's write-up says training needs a Linux workstation with a supported NVIDIA GPU and driver. Policies export as ONNX, and a Microduck Arena compares them.

NVIDIA has agreed to buy Hugging Face, announced on 3 September 2026 at about $12.93 billion. The deal still needs regulatory approval and is expected to close in the first half of 2027. NVIDIA's announcement says NVIDIA compute will not be required on Hugging Face.

Price and ordering

Pollen sells it direct as a pre-order at $399 before taxes and shipping, from 27 August 2026, in four colourways: Cream, Graphite, Lavender and Sky. Charger and accessory packs are separate. There is no affiliate or referral programme: Microduck at Pollen Robotics.

First deliveries are targeted before Christmas 2026 in North America, Europe and the UK. Later orders have slipped past Christmas. VAT and shipping are at checkout. We quote no sterling price.

Who it is for

Home & gadgets, for teens and adults. A teenager who already codes can use it with a parent handling setup, the Wi-Fi, the accounts and any training PC. It is not a young child's toy. Pollen publishes no age rating, so we will not invent one.

Camera, LiDAR and privacy

Front camera, 8x8 LiDAR, microphones, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC. Pollen says default behaviours run locally. Before use near children, check what is recorded or sent, keep it on the home network, change default credentials (SSH is open), and keep it out of bedrooms and bathrooms.

Similar robots on Amazon UK

Microduck isn't sold on Amazon. If you want a walking, programmable robot you can order in the UK today, these are the closest matches we've researched.

Kits include small parts, sharp edges, moving joints and lithium batteries. An adult supervises assembly, charging and first power-on. Keep fingers clear, and keep the robots from young siblings and pets. A parent sets up apps and Wi-Fi. Robosen and Tonybot use Bluetooth. PuppyPi and the Freenove dog have a camera and Wi-Fi.

Robosen K1 and K1 Pro

17 servos, 349 mm, 0.94 kg, Bluetooth 4.2, 2000 mAh. K1: 41 voice commands. Pro: 80 or more, gunmetal. Pose recording and block coding. No open reinforcement-learning stack. Robosen states no age. John Lewis: not suitable under 14, adult supervision. K1 review.

£309.00, in stock, EU Design Store (third party). Price correct as of 22 October 2026.

Robosen K1 on Amazon UK

K1 Pro: £399.00. "Only 5 left in stock." Same seller. Price correct as of 22 October 2026.

Robosen K1 Pro on Amazon UK

Tonybot Standard Kit

ESP32, 16 to 17 servos (listing: 17; some docs: 16). Self-righting. Arduino, Python, Scratch, open low-level code. Vision, voice and the large model are Ultimate only. This is the Standard kit. Unsuitable under 12. Minors need an adult. Italian site: 13+. Listing brand: LewanSoul.

£479.16. "Only 6 left in stock." Shipped from the US by Amazon: check delivery and returns at checkout. Price correct as of 22 October 2026.

Tonybot on Amazon UK

PuppyPi Standard Kit

Quadruped, not a biped: Raspberry Pi 5, ROS1 and ROS2, Python, HD camera, 8 servos. LiDAR and an arm are expansions, not included. High school and university. Italian site: 17+. Robot dogs roundup.

£587.82. "Only 4 left in stock." Shipped from the US by Amazon: check delivery and returns at checkout. Price correct as of 22 October 2026.

PuppyPi on Amazon UK

Freenove dog kit

Assemble it: 12 leg motors, camera and ultrasonic sensor on a rotating head, Python, app, face recognition, ball tracking. Pi (5, 4B or 3B+) and batteries are extra. No age band. Keep from children under 6, with an adult. Small and sharp parts, live electrics, moving parts, heat if shorted.

£114.95, in stock, Freenove-EU (third party). Price correct as of 22 October 2026.

Freenove dog kit on Amazon UK

Freenove biped kit

Pico included, battery not, you assemble it. Arduino IDE, LED matrix, obstacle avoidance, app control. Same Freenove safety notes.

£49.95, in stock, Freenove-EU (third party). Price correct as of 22 October 2026.

Freenove biped kit on Amazon UK

Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf on Microduck (Bloomberg Tech, 27 August 2026). Recorded before NVIDIA confirmed the deal: Wolf declines to comment on the reports. Not filmed by AIToys.

Related reading

Robosen K1 review. Best robot dogs UK 2026. Petoi Bittle and Loona were not on Amazon UK on 22 October 2026. Eilik and Vector 2.0 are desk companions, not walkers.