Hugging Face Unveils $400 Singing, Skateboarding Duck Robot

Hugging Face Inc. has announced the Microduck, a $400 bipedal robot that sings and skateboards, set to launch later this year. It learns new physical skills through reinforcement learning, simulation, and open-source software, letting developers code new behaviors in Python or JavaScript. The company aims to sell over 20,000 units, with first shipments expected before Christmas.

Since pre-orders opened, the robot has sparked consumer buzz, selling at a rate of one every four seconds. The Microduck represents a novel consumer application of embodied AI, merging entertainment with accessible robotics programming.