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Gadgets

Pollen Robotics Unveils Microduck, a Tiny Open-Source Robot

The makers of the Reachy robot arm are back with a compact, hackable bot aimed at hobbyists and researchers.

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By David, AI Engineer · Aug 28, 2026

Pollen Robotics, the French robotics company behind the open-source Reachy humanoid arm, has introduced Microduck, a small desktop robot built with the same open-hardware philosophy. Details are light, but the project follows the company's pattern of releasing designs, firmware, and control software openly so hobbyists, educators, and researchers can build or modify their own units rather than buying a sealed commercial product.

The Hacker News community reaction (nearly 500 points) suggests strong interest in a low-cost, tinkerable robot that isn't locked down by a single vendor's ecosystem. Given Pollen's history, Microduck likely ships with 3D-printable parts, open firmware, and integration hooks for common robotics software stacks like ROS.

Expect more documentation and build guides as the project matures, following the open-source release pattern Pollen has used with its other hardware.

Why it matters: Open-hardware robots like Microduck lower the barrier for students and makers to learn robotics without expensive proprietary kits, and they let the community extend or repurpose designs rather than being locked to one company's roadmap. It's also a signal that hobbyist robotics is increasingly following the open-source playbook that reshaped software and IoT.

Sources: Hacker News

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