Hugging Face debuts "Microduck," a $399 robot
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Microduck Image: Hugging Face
Hugging Face on Thursday announced "Microduck," a small, armless robot capable of waddling adorably and picking up small objects with an articulated beak that doubles as a gripper.
Why it matters: The move is an effort to put a friendly, approachable face on a robotics field dominated by attack dogs and humanoids.
Driving the news: The $399 duck-like robot comes in several colors and is packed with sensors including an eye-like camera, speaker, microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, and even a small lidar sensor.
- Microduck will come with several preset behaviors, such as being able to follow a laser pointer.
- In sample videos, Hugging Face showed Microduck picking up a dirty sock, rollerblading and recovering from falls and efforts to push it off balance.
- However, the target audience is AI developers who can teach the robot new tricks.
- The company aims to deliver the first robots before Christmas, with preorders starting today.
What they're saying: Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue told Axios it's the first affordable AI robot that one can teach via reinforcement learning, aka trial and error.
- Delangue said the team designed Microduck to be "made to move, ready to fall."
- "We want these robots to also teach people that robots can fail and make mistakes — and you want to take that into account in your design," he said.
Reality check: Microduck is pint-sized, so don't expect it to be taking on a lot of household chores. It's about 10 inches tall, 5.5 inches wide, and weighs less than 2 pounds.
The big picture: Robots are widely seen as the next frontier of AI, giving physical capabilities to a technology that has largely been confined to what it can achieve through software.
- Hugging Face is not new to robotics. It previously released Reachy Mini and last year acquired French startup Pollen Robotics.
Zoom out: Hugging Face became a household name when the company's systems were breached by OpenAI. It has also emerged as a central place to find all the world's open-source models.
Between the lines: Delangue declined to comment on a report that the company has hired bankers to see if it can fetch around $13 billion in a sale. (He did not immediately respond last night after The Information reported a possible sale to Nvidia.)
- He did say he thinks Hugging Face can achieve its mission whether solo or as part of a larger company.
What we're watching: Just how mainstream a cute-but-limited robot can be.
- Delangue said that the best-selling robots today have sold around 20,000 units, and he sees Microduck beating that record.
- "I think 50,000 would be a great success," he said, noting that at around $400 each, it would become a serious business, on the order of $20 million in revenue.
