The Microduck robot, explained: what it does and what is inside
If you searched for "microduck robot" and landed here: this is the tour of the robot itself - what it does, what is inside it, and why it walks instead of rolling. The numbers live on the specs page; this page is the story around them.
Microduck is a 25 cm tall biped duck robot made by Pollen Robotics, sold direct as a pre-order at microduck.homes for $399 before taxes and shipping. It stands, walks, kicks, grabs and picks itself back up - and unlike almost everything else this size, the software that makes it move is open: the SDK, the simulator and the reinforcement-learning stack are all published, so you can retrain it instead of just driving it.
What the robot does, out of the box
Seven trained moves ship installed:
- Standing up - from flat on its back to standing, on its own.
- Sitting and standing - a sit-down, a held pose, and a clean stand back up.
- Walking - a velocity-tracking gait you steer with the included game controller.
- Turning - turns in place, at speed.
- Kicking - a one-shot kick, then straight back to walking.
- Driving - clip-on rollers turn the duck into a skater.
- Grabbing - dips its beak, scoops and stands back up.
Plus the character layer: a speaker, a voice of its own, and a habit of quacking at the wrong moment. You can meet the same seven moves before any hardware arrives, in the browser simulator.
What is inside that makes walking work
Walking on two legs at this size is a balance problem, and the robot solves it on board:
- 15 motors in a two-tone shell - the duck is a jointed machine, not a wheeled toy.
- A camera, LiDAR and two IMUs - the sensing stack the walking and balancing policies run on.
- A 50 Hz onboard policy loop - movement is generated on the robot, not streamed from a server, so it keeps walking when the Wi-Fi does not.
Every one of the seven moves is a reinforcement-learning policy: trained in simulation first, then transferred to the hardware. The training environments are public, and the training guide walks the same path the shipped moves took.
Why a duck on two legs
Wheeled robots roll; this one falls and gets back up. Bipeds are harder - which is exactly the point: the duck is a small, safe, desk-sized platform for the most interesting problem in robotics, learning to balance. The duck shape keeps it honest and keeps it charming; a robot that looks like a duck is a robot you actually want on your desk while it learns. If you are cross-shopping, the alternatives tour (Reachy Mini, Petoi Bittle, Open Duck Mini) explains what each shape is good for.
Open source, not a black box
- Python SDK - talk to the robot, read its state and sensors, command joints or hand over to a policy. The first-session guide is the on-ramp.
- Simulator - the same software stack against a simulated body, in the browser or locally.
- Reinforcement-learning stack - the training setup behind every shipped move, ready for your own reward function.
- Apache-2.0 - the whole software stack, permissively licensed, on GitHub.
What the robot runs is what you can read, fork and retrain.
Common questions
How much does the Microduck robot cost? $399 before taxes and shipping, one-time, with optional packs from $39. The buy page walks through it; the FAQ answers the rest.
Where can I buy it? Only here, at microduck.homes - where to buy has the details, and the official sources page shows how to buy safely.
Is it a toy? No - it is a programmable robot platform that happens to look like a duck. The full answer untangles the search confusion.
What can I do with it? The projects page has twelve directions, from desk pet routines to training your own policies.
How big is it exactly? 25 cm tall, about 800 g, four colourways. The specs page has every number, and the reviews round-up collects what owners and coverage say.
Where to go next
- Pre-order Microduck - $399, four colourways
- Microduck projects - twelve things to build, train and try
- Microduck specs - the duck in numbers
- Coding Microduck - your first Python session