$399 (about 520,000 won) mini duck robot "Microduck" is drawing attention from developers worldwide, and in China it has even sparked a craze to make direct knockoffs. As developers flock to build the robot themselves instead of waiting months for delivery, even the Chinese-made semiconductors and related parts installed in the robot are facing shortages.
On the 7th, according to China Business News and others, the small bipedal robot Microduck was developed by France's Pollen Robotics, the robot institutional sector subsidiary of the artificial intelligence (AI) open-source platform Hugging Face. It stands 25 centimeters tall, weighs under 800 grams, and has a duck-like appearance. It is equipped with 15 motors, a camera, a distance sensor, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), and it can walk, sit, and get back up after falling. A beak-shaped device also lets it pick up small objects.
◇ Chinese developers who had waited for delivery say "we'll build it ourselves," sparking a cloning craze
Microduck has drawn an explosive response in the global market since it was unveiled on the 27th. China Business News quoted Chinese contract manufacturer Xidikeji (矽递科技) as saying, "We are adjusting production plans due to a surge in orders," adding, "Because the product design is relatively complex, the supply chain is facing difficulties, and we are working with multiple chip manufacturers."
The key factor behind its popularity is that Microduck's software is open. The robot control program, a Reinforcement Learning tool for training robots in virtual space, and even the software that applies trained motions to the real robot are public, allowing users to train behaviors themselves and create new functions. It is essentially a development platform rather than a simple toy robot.
In China, Microduck is being called a "machine duck (机器鸭)," and another craze is taking hold among developers. Saying they would rather build it themselves than wait months for delivery, they are sourcing parts to make replicas. Based on the model released by the company, they reverse-extract assembly drawings, source components such as cameras, servo motors, printed circuit boards (PCB), and batteries, and fabricate parts with a 3D printer.
◇ Parts prices up fivefold… shortage of China's Rockchip products
This has led to shortages of related parts. Particularly notable is the processor from Chinese semiconductor company Rockchip. A processor is the semiconductor chip that serves as the brain of a device, and Microduck uses Rockchip's "RK3566" chip as its main processor. As a result, development boards equipped with the same chip are also in short supply, with prices reportedly rising more than fivefold from 135 yuan (about 27,083 won) to as high as 700 yuan (about 140,000 won).
China Business News said, "There are cases where the expense of building a single robot directly exceeds the price of the original product," noting that one developer invested more than 5,000 yuan (about 1 million won) to produce a semi-finished unit, and some developers spent more than 10,000 yuan (about 2 million won) to make a product.
China Business News assessed that the success of Microduck, which allows developers to train robots directly and add new functions, shows the potential of a robot market where general consumers can buy and use robots themselves, rather than expensive industrial robots. An industry official said, "For the advent of a true 'personal robot' era, the most important thing is that the value a robot provides to humans exceeds its sales price," adding, "The explosive popularity of Microduck is a powerful example of this."