Microduck robots hit 20,000 preorders after Jensen Huang demo
Original: Hottest toy for Christmas? Nvidia CEO plays with adorable Microduck robots, 20,000 sell
Why This Matters
Consumer robotics hitting viral demand signals a real mass-market inflection point.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang demoed Pollen Robotics' Microduck robots at GTC Berlin on Oct. 21, 2026. The open-source duck robots hit 20,000+ preorders within a day, per Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue.
Jensen Huang's GTC Berlin keynote moment went viral fast. He played with a flock of small waddling robots called Microducks—trained to sit, fall over for a "nap," and somersault on voice command, complete with R2-D2-style sound effects. By the next day, preorders topped 20,000 units, according to Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue on X. Deliveries are expected before Christmas.
Microducks are made by Pollen Robotics, a French company acquired by Hugging Face in 2025. Nvidia then acquired Hugging Face in September 2026, making this an Nvidia product by chain. The robots were trained using Nvidia's RTX Spark technology stack—simulations taught them basic behaviors that ship with the device. Owners can train new tricks and share them with the community, Pollen says.
This is Hugging Face's second consumer robot, following the Reachy Mini. Delangue speculated the Microduck could become the best-selling robot of 2026—and notably, promotional videos feature adults as much as kids.