Hottest toy for Christmas? Nvidia CEO plays with adorable Microduck robots, 20,000 sell
The robots, stomping their little feet and making tiny R2-D2 noises, sat, fell down dead for a "nap," and summersaulted on voice command.
Key points
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's GTC Berlin keynote video of Microduck robots went viral this week.
- Preorders for the Microducks passed 20,000 units the next day, according to Hugging Face's Clem Delangue.
- The robots are expected to be delivered in time for Christmas and may become the holiday season's hottest toy.
A video of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang playing with a flock of waddling Microduck robots during his keynote at the company's GTC Berlin conference went viral earlier this week. The robots walked on their small feet, made tiny R2-D2 noises, sat, fell down for a "nap" and somersaulted on voice command.
By the next day, preorders of the Microducks had surpassed 20,000 units, Hugging Face's Clem Delangue said in a tweet. The robots are expected to be delivered in time for Christmas.
What the robots are
Microducks are open source devices made by Pollen Robotics, a company Hugging Face acquired in 2025. Hugging Face was itself bought by Nvidia in September, so the ducks are now part of an Nvidia company. They are Hugging Face's second robot, after the Reachy Mini.
The robots were trained using Nvidia's technology stack, with simulations teaching them basic tricks such as walking, sitting and standing that they ship with. Pollen says owners can train their robots with new tricks and share them with the community.
When @jensenhuang asks for a somersault, you deliver.
— Nvidia
Holiday toy prospects
Delangue said the Microducks might end up being the best-selling robot of the year, and possibly not only for kids. Promotional videos show adults playing with the robots as well.
The article notes the video offers a lighter moment after a week in which AI involvement was blamed for cyberattack after cyberattack.
