Pollen Robotics has just unveiled Microduck, a pint-sized bipedal robot designed to bring reinforcement learning to the masses for a budget-friendly sub-£320. This open-source marvel is kitted out with 15 actuators and a LiDAR sensor, and—in a brilliant twist—it can even roller-skate straight out of the box. The barrier to entry for hands-on AI research just got significantly lower, and a whole lot more charming.
