Learning biped robots are going to fall. With a full-size humanoid, each failure can mean more damage to the machine and its surroundings. Microduck approaches that problem by being a roughly 25 cm-tall, sub-800 gram biped small enough for falls to be much less dramatic. Built by Pollen Robotics as a research and development platform, it carries 15 motors, a camera, LiDAR and IMUs and is intended for sim-to-real learning workflows.

It can walk, kick, grab objects with its beak and get itself back up after falling. It can even roller-skate, choosing manageable scale rather than pretending experimental robots never fail.