Pollen Robotics built a $399 open-source duck robot you can train yourself

Pollen Robotics unveiled Microduck, a 25 cm open-source bipedal robot that lets you train custom AI moves in simulation and run them on physical hardware.

The desktop-sized robot hit the top of Hacker News with 594 points. Inside its 800-gram frame, Microduck packs 15 motors, LiDAR, a camera, and two IMUs running a 50 Hz onboard policy loop. Pre-orders open today for $399, with units scheduled to ship before Christmas 2026.

Why it matters: Bipedal hardware usually costs thousands of dollars and runs on proprietary code. Microduck keeps the entire software stack open under an Apache-2.0 license. You train behaviors using reinforcement learning inside the MuJoCo physics simulator—either on your local machine or via Hugging Face Jobs—and push the policy straight to the duck in one step.

Out of the box, it ships with 7 pre-trained moves, including walking, picking up objects with its beak, getting back up after falling, and roller skating with add-on wheels. You can view the code, simulation tools, and training stack today on GitHub at pollen-robotics/microduck.

Finally, a bipedal lab platform that costs less than a laptop and fits on your desk.