The key facts

  • The Microduck video from Jensen Huang's keynote at GTC Berlin went viral, with pre-orders exceeding 20,000 in a day
  • Microduck is an open-source robot from Pollen Robotics (acquired by Hugging Face in 2025), now part of Nvidia after the Hugging Face acquisition in September
  • Delangue believes the robot could become the best-selling robot of the year, including among adults; deliveries are expected by Christmas

Viral video and record pre-orders

This week a video from Nvidia's keynote at the GTC Berlin conference spread across the internet: company CEO Jensen Huang played with a flock of tail-wagging Microduck robot ducklings. As TechCrunch described it, the robots stomped their little feet, made R2-D2-style sounds, sat down on voice command, played dead for nap time, and did a somersault. The next day, Microduck pre-orders exceeded 20,000 units, Clem Delangue of Hugging Face reported in a tweet.

Who is behind Microduck

Microduck is an open-source device made by Pollen Robotics, which Hugging Face acquired in 2025. In September, Nvidia in turn bought Hugging Face, so the robots now formally belong to the Nvidia ecosystem. This is Hugging Face's second robot after Reachy Mini. The robots were trained on Nvidia's technology stack: in simulation, they were taught basic tricks (walking, sit, stand, and others) that they ship with. According to Pollen, owners will be able to teach the robots new tricks and share them with the community.

A Christmas hit — not just for kids

Microduck units are expected to be delivered by Christmas, and TechCrunch notes that the robots may already be the most coveted holiday gift. Delangue suggested they could become the best-selling robot of the year — and perhaps not only among children: adults play with them in the promo videos too. On October 21, 2026, Nvidia showed on its RTX Spark account how AI agents on NVIDIA RTX Spark help transfer Microduck from simulation to the real world. Against the backdrop of a week in which, as TechCrunch put it, the AI industry gave itself a black eye due to a string of cyberattacks in which AI was accused of involvement, the duckling story looks like a silver lining for the outlet: AI can cause serious harm to the world, but it can also entertain.

Why it matters

The event shows how intertwined the AI industry's chains have become: an open-source robot from the small company Pollen ended up under Nvidia's wing through the Hugging Face acquisition — and one viral keynote instantly converted into more than 20,000 pre-orders. This affects both buyers awaiting delivery by Christmas and the developer community, whom Pollen has promised the ability to teach the robots new tricks and share them. In practical terms, it means a consumer robot with open-source code is going into mass production under the brands of three companies at once.