The demo that made the rounds online
A video circulated earlier this week shows Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang playing with a group of Microduck, small duck-like robots, during the company's GTC Berlin conference keynote. According to the source's account, the robots move forward with rhythmic little steps, emit sounds similar to R2-D2's, sit down, slump as if sleeping and do somersaults on voice command. The footage went viral, pushing Microduck preorders past 20,000 units the very next day, as stated in a tweet by Clem Delangue of Hugging Face.
Preorders and delivery times
Microduck deliveries are expected in time for Christmas, according to the article. From this indication stems the hypothesis, attributed to the source and to Delangue, that the little robots could become one of the most sought-after toys of the Christmas season. Delangue also believes they could prove to be the best-selling robot of the year, and not only among children: the promotional videos also show adults playing with the devices.
The figures cited refer to publicly announced preorders and not to completed sales. The actual delivery volume and the ability to meet the stated timelines for the Christmas period therefore remain to be verified.
Who makes the robots and how they work
The Microduck are open-source devices made by Pollen Robotics, a company acquired by Hugging Face in 2025. According to the source, Hugging Face had in turn become part of Nvidia the previous September, following its acquisition by the GPU giant. The Microduck represent Hugging Face's second robot after Reachy Mini.
The robots were trained with Nvidia technology: in simulation they learned some basic skills, such as walking, sitting and standing, which are supplied with the device. Pollen says that owners can train the robots with new tricks and share them with the community. The combination of simulation training and transfer to the real robot is described by the source as the path that takes Microduck from simulation to the physical world.
A case that combines entertainment and technology
The article places the phenomenon in a broader frame: the same week was marked by cyberattacks attributed to the use of artificial intelligence, and the source presents Microduck as a light-hearted break from that climate. The journalistically relevant point is not only the novelty of the product, but the fact that an open-source robot trained with simulation tools can generate mass interest and quickly surpass 20,000 preorders.
The source does not report prices, detailed technical specifications or official comments from Nvidia or Pollen Robotics beyond what is cited. It also does not indicate how many units have actually been produced. These elements remain to be verified in order to assess the soundness of the hypothesis that Microduck will become the best-selling robot of the year.
