Hugging Face released an open-source robot named Microduck, priced $399 and scheduled to be shipped before Christmas. The product continues the company ' s low-priced AI hardware layout for almost two years, focusing on developers, researchers and robot lovers.

A low-cost open source robot.

This robot is about 25 centimeters tall, and it's almost ducky. According to the company's description, it can walk, crouch, fall and rise on its own, and it can also grab objects with “beak”, up to a weight limit of approximately 800 grams. Officially, it also shows its ability to slide.

Hugging Face CEO Clem Delange defines it as an "open-source robot that can learn new skills from the Church by strengthening it." The company wants to use this to promote a lower threshold of AI development.

Support for direct deployment after simulation training

Microduck is equipped with cameras, laser radar sensors and two inertial measurement units to detect environmental and operational state. Pollen Robotics states that developers can first train robotics in a simulation environment, then deploy the results directly to physical equipment, and then continue to fine-tune, retrain and redeploy.

Currently, the robot's SDK, simulation tools and complete intensive learning facility are open on GitHub. For developers, this means not only a consumer-grade robot, but also a reusable experimental platform.

  • Sale price: US$ 399
  • Delivery time: By Christmas
  • Open Source Resource: SDK, Simulation and RL Inn online GitHub

Hugging Face Added Physical AI Hardware

Hugo Face, a previously more widely known identity, is the community platform of open source model weights and developers. In April 2025, the company acquired the French robotics start-up company Pollen Robotics, which began to advance low-price open source AI hardware.

A few months later, both sides launched desktop robot Reachy Mini. The current sales version includes $499, the built-in Reachy Mini of Raspberry Pi, and $399, which relies on Mac or PC to run Reachy Mini Lite. Microduck's launch shows that the company is continuing to expand the open-source robot product line.

It was also mentioned that Hugo Face was allegedly preparing for acquisition by Nvidia at a value of $13 billion. The two companies have been working together for many years and Nvidia has been providing infrastructure support at least since 2023.

Privacy remains a real test.

As home-based robots with cameras enter more private spaces, so do privacy concerns. Delange had previously indicated that the open source model was better auditable and controlled than the “black box system” controlled by a few agencies.

However, open sources per se do not automatically amount to privacy security. If a user installs a third-party application on a robot, the software may still call a camera or microphone and send data to an external service. For this type of equipment, how the software ecology is managed remains a key issue in subsequent landings.