Microduck: NVIDIA robot duck passes 20,000 preorders after GTC Berlin viral moment

The Microduck robot duck became one of the most talked-about characters at GTC Berlin 2026. In a keynote video that spread online, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang plays with a flock of Microducks: they walk, sit, fall over for a “nap” and even somersault on voice command.

According to TechCrunch, preorders had passed 20,000 units by the day after the presentation. The figure was shared by Hugging Face’s Clem Delangue in a post on X, and is treated here as a statement — not as an audited sales report.

Delivery is expected in time for Christmas. Delangue also suggested the Microduck could become the year’s best-selling robot — an opinion, not a confirmed market forecast — and noted that the audience is not only children, since promotional videos show adults playing with it too.

Microduck is an open-source device made by Pollen Robotics, acquired by Hugging Face in 2025. According to TechCrunch, Hugging Face was bought by NVIDIA in September, placing the project inside the GPU maker’s ecosystem. It is Hugging Face’s second robot, after Reachy Mini.

The technical appeal is in the training: the robots learn basic tricks in simulation, using NVIDIA’s technology stack, and ship with moves such as walking, sitting and standing. Pollen says owners will be able to train new tricks and share them with the community. Technical coverage also cites about 25 cm in height, 15 motors and a preorder launch price of US$399.

In practice, Microduck works as a friendly showcase for physical robotics: a programmable toy with the feel of an open experiment, which gained traction precisely because it looks accessible — not only because it looked cute on stage.

Image credit: Pollen Robotics, via TechCrunch.

Sources

Transparency: this article was produced with AI assistance, based on cross-checking public posts on X, as reported by news outlets, and the internet sources listed below. Check the original sources before making purchase decisions.

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