A flock of small robots waddling, sitting and tumbling on command has drawn attention beyond the technology world. After Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang played with Microducks during a keynote at the company’s GTC Berlin conference, preorders passed 20,000 units by the next day, according to Hugging Face’s Clem Delangue.
A viral demonstration drove early demand
The video showed the Microducks responding to voice commands with a set of simple movements. They stomped their feet, made small electronic sounds, sat down, fell over as if taking a “nap,” and performed somersaults.
The demonstration gave the robots a clear appeal: they were easy to understand at a glance and entertaining to watch. The preorder figure suggests that interest arrived quickly after the clip spread, though it does not establish how many units will ultimately be sold.
Delangue said the robots could become the best-selling robot of the year. That remains a prediction, but the early response has put Microducks in the conversation about holiday gifts. They are expected to be delivered in time for Christmas, and promotional videos show adults playing with them as well as suggesting an appeal for children.
Owners can teach them new tricks
Microducks are open source devices made by Pollen Robotics. The robots come with basic actions, including walking, sitting and standing. According to the article, those behaviors were taught in simulations using Nvidia’s technology stack before the robots were shipped.
The starter tricks are only part of the pitch. Pollen says owners can train their robots to do new things and share those abilities with the community. That gives buyers a way to build on the demonstration they saw online, rather than treating each robot as a fixed set of movements.
In practical terms, the idea connects training in a simulated environment with actions performed by a physical robot. The promotional clip described the process as bringing a Microduck from simulation into the real world. The source does not detail how owners will create or share new tricks, so the exact experience remains unclear.
Microducks join Hugging Face’s robot lineup
Pollen Robotics was acquired by Hugging Face in 2025, and Microducks are described as Hugging Face’s second robot. Its earlier robot is Reachy Mini, also characterized as cute in the source article.
The article also says the GPU company bought Hugging Face in September, placing the Microducks within a broader chain of company ownership and technology connections. Nvidia’s role is visible in the training technology used for the robots and in the demonstration video, which showed Jensen Huang interacting with them.
A toy with a learning curve
Microducks sit at the intersection of a playful gadget and an open source robotics project. Their appeal in the video comes from short, recognizable actions, while the ability to add and share tricks suggests a more hands-on experience for owners.
Whether that combination makes them a holiday hit will depend on more than a viral clip. The source reports strong early preorder interest and an expected Christmas delivery, but offers no further sales figures or details about the buying experience. For now, the robots’ most visible achievement is turning a technology conference demonstration into a widely shared toy moment.