Microduck Robot Preorders Hit 20,000 After Nvidia CEO Demo

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang turned a cute robotics demo into a holiday-season sensation after showcasing Microduck robots during his keynote at GTC Berlin in Germany. In a video that quickly spread online, a flock of small duck-shaped robots waddled across the stage, performed simple voice-commanded movements and let viewers react to their animated behavior. The moment helped drive demand for the toy, with preorders surpassing 20,000 units the next day, according to Clem Delangue of Hugging Face. The Microducks are expected to ship in time for Christmas, positioning them as a potential top gift for the holiday season and possibly one of the year’s best-selling robots. The product’s appeal appears to extend beyond children, with promotional materials showing adults interacting with the devices. Microducks were developed by Pollen Robotics, an open-source hardware company acquired by Hugging Face in 2025. The robots are now part of Nvidia’s broader ecosystem after Nvidia acquired Hugging Face in September. This marks Hugging Face’s second robot, following the similarly playful Reachy Mini. The devices were trained using Nvidia’s technology stack, with simulations used to teach them baseline behaviors such as walking, sitting, standing and falling over. Owners can train new tricks and share them with the community, reinforcing the open-source approach behind the product. The viral demo underscored how consumer robotics, AI training tools and accessible hardware could combine to create commercially appealing products, even as the broader AI sector faces scrutiny over safety and security.