Microduck: a $399 biped robot that can roller-skate
The Microduck is a 25cm-tall biped robot with 15 motors, a camera, LiDAR, and an articulated beak for picking up objects. It can walk, sit, crouch, and even roller-skate, and is designed for developers experimenting with AI-powered movement. Pre-orders are now open at $399.
The Microduck's design emphasizes resilience and experimentation. Its 15 motors, distributed across legs, head, and neck, enable recovery from common falls, while its lightweight build minimizes risk during testing. The robot ships with pre-learned behaviors, allowing immediate interaction through gamepad control or laser-dot following, with reinforcement learning tools available for deeper customization.
Hugging Face positions the robot as a creature rather than a tool, giving each unit a permanent audio identity. The open-source software stack supports simulation options for advanced developers. Four colorways are offered, and the company reports that operating multiple units simultaneously proved significantly more engaging, even enabling soccer play among the robots.
The Microduck could lower the barrier for robotics experimentation, making AI-powered movement research accessible to hobbyists and smaller labs at a relatively modest price point. Its durable, lightweight design may encourage more trial-and-error learning without the safety concerns of larger humanoids. This could accelerate development of agile locomotion algorithms, potentially benefiting fields like search-and-rescue or assistive robotics. However, widespread adoption of such robots might raise questions about privacy, given the built-in camera and microphone, and could normalize autonomous machines in everyday environments.