Viral CEO Demo Sends Robot Duck Preorders Past 20,000

Consumer demand for the Microduck robot surged following a viral video of Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang interacting with the devices during a recent keynote. Hugging Face President Clem Delangue announced on social media on Thursday that preorders for the unit exceeded 20,000 within 24 hours of the GTC Berlin presentation.

The video showed Huang commanding a group of the small robots to perform various actions. The devices responded by stomping, sitting, falling into a dormant state, and somersaulting. They also emitted mechanical sounds resembling those of a star wars droid. The clip circulated widely, drawing attention to the product's playful capabilities.

The Microduck is an open source hardware device developed by Pollen Robotics. Pollen was acquired by Hugging Face in 2025, and Hugging Face was subsequently purchased by Nvidia in September. This acquisition chain places the robot under the ownership of the GPU manufacturer.

The robots were trained using Nvidia's technology stack. Simulated versions of the device learned basic movements such as walking, sitting, and standing, which are pre-installed on the physical units. Pollen Robotics stated that owners can train their devices to perform new maneuvers and share those custom skills with the user community.

Delangue indicated that the devices are scheduled for delivery in time for the Christmas holiday season. He suggested the Microduck could become the best-selling robot of the year, noting that promotional materials feature adults interacting with the units as well as children. This follows Hugging Face's previous robot release, the Reachy Mini.