According to developers HuggingFace and Pollen Robotics, the Microduck robot will come with a variety of pre-installed actions.
pollen robotics
BEIJING — The French-American company’s popular new programmable personal robot is powered by chips from Shanghai-listed Rockchip and uses technology from British company ARM, reflecting how the global technology supply chain remains intertwined.
The colorful “Microduck” robot from Hugging Face’s French subsidiary Pollen Robotics has sold more than 10,000 units since its launch on Thursday, earning more than $4 million based on a unit price of $399. As a result, the delivery date for new orders has been rapidly delayed beyond the originally promised Christmas 2026 date.
The duck-shaped robot includes its own set of sensors, motors, and on-device computing power powered by Rockchip’s RK3566. The chip incorporates technology licensed from a British semiconductor company armaccording to Rockchip.
Lian Jie Su, principal analyst at Omdia, said Chinese companies are the “leading vendors” of AI that runs on devices rather than in the cloud. He noted that the company’s chips are commonly used in machine vision, including object detection and image recognition.
“Although it has a huge footprint, its chips are not designed for complex edge AI devices due to a lack of computing resources,” Su said. Such computing capabilities enable smartphones, robots, and other electronic devices to securely run generative AI tools without sharing data over the internet.
Rockchip last month reported first-half operating revenue of 2.88 billion yuan ($428 million), up 40% year-on-year, and net profit excluding one-time items increased by more than 60%.
The 1.76 pound (800 g) Microduck is both an interactive consumer toy and a development platform. Open source software allows for learning through virtual simulation and goal-driven direction.
The product is the second robot from France-based startup Pollen Robotics, which was acquired by Hugging Face last year. The first robot, released by Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics last spring, sold more than 10,000 units, Pollen Robotics said.
Shortly before Microduck’s release, The Information reported: Nvidia It had agreed to buy Hug Face for $12.9 billion. Neither company responded to requests for comment.
Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolfe said in a social media post Monday that people are starting to monitor Microduck’s supply chain because the company is inundated with orders.
Other companies are rolling out similar personal robots at premium consumer prices.
This summer, startup Zelos launched a child-sized humanoid robot for 8,888 yuan that it claims offers similar virtual simulation learning capabilities. There are 247 pre-orders listed on JD.com in China. The company plans to release an open source robotic system on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mondo Robotics’ Wall-E cameraman robot has raised more than 80 times its initial goal of $50,000 on Kickstarter ahead of the September 6 deadline. Early bird pricing for the device, which resembles a GoPro on wheels, starts at $549 and shipping is expected to begin in October.
—CNBC’s April Roach and Kai Nicol-Schwarz contributed to this report.
