Pollen Robotics Introduces Affordable Programmable Biped Robot
Pollen Robotics opened orders for Microduck, an 800-gram bipedal robot selling for $399. The machine comes with built-in motors and sensors, capable of walking, balancing, and recovering from falls autonomously. The entire codebase and simulation environment are open source, allowing developers to train new movement routines using personal hardware or cloud computing.
The Blend
Pollen Robotics announced pre-orders for Microduck, a compact two-legged robot listed at $399. Standing 25 centimeters tall and weighing 800 grams, the machine includes built-in sensors, 15 individual motors, and pre-installed moves such as walking, grabbing items, and picking itself back up after a fall.
The release is notable because Pollen Robotics released the full software stack, physics simulation, and training code under an open license. Owners can program custom movements by training artificial intelligence models in virtual environments on their own hardware or through cloud service providers.
It remains uncertain how long the onboard battery lasts under active movement or how resilient the internal gear motors will be against wear over time. The launch also raises a broader question of whether low-cost hardware will create a broader market for personal robotics, or if demand will remain limited primarily to software researchers and students.
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- Microduck - A tiny biped robot you can teach new tricks | Pollen Robotics
Pollen Robotics has launched pre-orders for Microduck, a $399 open-source bipedal robot designed for reinforcement learning.