Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics Release Microduck, a $400 Open-Source Robot
Hugging Face and Pollen Robotics have launched "Microduck," a $399 open-source, 10-inch bipedal robot designed for reinforcement learning. The duck-like robot features 15 actuators and a suite of sensors including a camera, LiDAR, speaker, and wireless connectivity. This release significantly lowers the financial barrier to entry for embodied AI and robotics research, which typically requires expensive hardware. By offering an affordable, friendly platform, it aims to democratize AI-driven robotics and make the field more accessible to the public and researchers alike. Microduck is armless but features an articulated beak that doubles as a gripper to pick up small objects, and it is trained using reinforcement learning. It comes packed with sensors like an eye-like camera, microphone, NFC, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, allowing users to train it locally.
## BACKGROUND
Embodied AI refers to artificial intelligence that interacts directly with the physical world through a physical body, such as a robot, rather than existing solely in digital environments. Traditionally, researching embodied AI has been highly expensive due to the high cost of advanced sensors and actuators, often limiting development to well-funded institutions.