Pollen Robotics: Microduck preorders exceed 20,000 after GTC demo

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, played with a group of Microduck robots during his keynote speech at the GTC Berlin conference earlier this week. The video of the interaction, showing the units walking, sitting, and performing somersaults on voice commands, spread rapidly online. By the following day, Clem Delangue, head of Hugging Face, announced that preorders for the devices had surpassed 20,000 units.

The Microducks are manufactured by Pollen Robotics, a company acquired by Hugging Face in 2025. Hugging Face was subsequently purchased by Nvidia in September. The devices operate on an open-source platform and were trained using Nvidia's technology stack. Simulations taught the robots basic movements, including walking, sitting, and standing, which they use upon initial activation.

Delangue stated that the robots are expected to be delivered in time for the Christmas holiday season. He suggested they could become the best-selling robot of the year, noting that promotional materials feature adults interacting with the units, not just children. Pollen Robotics allows owners to teach the devices new tricks and share those instructions with the user community.

This is the second robot product released by Hugging Face, following the Reachy Mini. The surge in preorders occurred during a week in which the AI industry faced scrutiny over cybersecurity issues, providing a contrast to the sector's more serious challenges. The Microduck units make small mechanical sounds and can simulate a resting state, features that contributed to the viral nature of the keynote footage.