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Robotics

Hugging Face's Microduck robot tops 10,000 sales, powered by Chinese chip with ARM tech

Hugging Face's new duck robot, Microduck, sold over 10,000 units in days, driven by a Chinese Rockchip processor with ARM tech, highlighting global supply chain ties.

AI News Feed · 2026-09-01 17:33

Sales for the $399 robot have topped $4 million, but new orders are facing delays beyond the initial promise of Christmas 2026.

The duck-shaped robots pack sensors, motors and on-device computing power from Shanghai-listed Rockchip's RK3566 processor, which uses technology licensed from Britain's ARM, the Chinese company said. Lian Jye Su, chief analyst at Omdia, called Rockchip a "key vendor" for AI that runs on devices rather than in the cloud. He said the chips are commonly used for machine vision involving object detection and image recognition, but added: "While it has massive footprint, the company chips are not designed for complex edge AI devices as they lack the compute resources."

On-edge computing lets smartphones, robots and other electronics run generative AI tools securely without sharing data on the internet.

Rockchip last month reported a 40% year-on-year increase in operating revenue in the first half of the year to 2.88 billion yuan ($428 million), and net profit excluding one-time items surged over 60%.

The 1.76-pound (800g) Microduck is an interactive consumer toy and development platform. With open-source software, it can learn from virtual simulations and goal-driven directions. It is the second robot from Pollen Robotics, which Hugging Face acquired last year. The first model launched last spring and also sold more than 10,000 units.

Shortly before Microduck's release, The Information reported that Nvidia had agreed to buy Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. Neither company responded to CNBC's request for comment. Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf said on social media Monday that people were beginning to monitor the Microduck supply chain amid a rush of orders.

Other startups are pushing similar personal robots. Zeroth this summer launched a child-sized humanoid robot for 8,888 yuan, claiming similar virtual-simulation learning, and has 247 pre-orders on JD.com. It plans to reveal its open-source robotics system on Wednesday. Mondo Robotics' Wall-E-style camera robot, which resembles a GoPro on wheels, has raised more than 80 times its initial $50,000 goal on Kickstarter; early-bird prices start at $549, with shipping from October.