Pre-orders for Microduck reached $1 million in the first 6 hours and $2.6 million in 24 hours. report Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolfe.
Image source: Huofian
The $399 Microduck debuted last Thursday (August 27) and is launched by Pollen Robotics, a subsidiary of Hugging Face; device shipments will begin by the end of this year. “The community ordered too many ducks. We can no longer commit to delivering new Microduck orders before Christmas, but we are ramping up production. Order first, receive delivery first. The current lead time for new orders is 4-6 months”, the company’s website states.
Microduck is Pollen’s second consumer robot after Reachy Mini. The tabletop machine with a square head requires assembly, after which it can be programmed to talk or move its antenna. Both devices are aimed at developers and robotics enthusiasts. The bipedal, one-eyed Microduck is also programmable, but unlike its predecessor, it can waddle around. In its basic configuration, it can stand, sit, walk, kick a soccer ball, and pick up objects with its plastic beak. The robot can stand up on its own after a fall, and it can even skate if you buy an extra set of accessories.
These skills are just the starting point for developers to build their own actions and applications. The miniature ducks can be trained through trial and error using virtual models in physical simulators, and the skills acquired can then be transferred to real robots. After teaching Microduck a new move, developers can export the skill to an ONNX archive and publish it to other device owners. Microduck is equipped with a camera, a lidar, and two inertial sensors – access to which can be made available when creating an application. The removable battery lasts about an hour.
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