Microduck orders top 2.6 million dollars as delivery stretches to 4 to 6 months
Hugging Face took orders for the 399 dollar Microduck worth 2.6 million dollars during its first 24 hours, and the delivery estimate for new purchases moved to 4 to 6 months. ICE is also planning at least 1 million dollars of Boston Dynamics robots, while Arduino opened 299 dollar preorders for its VENTUNO Q edge-AI board. Physical AI hardware is moving through consumer, developer and government purchasing on distinct tracks.
Artificial Intelligence··Night
Microduck demand outruns the delivery promise
Hugging Face cofounder Thomas Wolf said orders for the 399 dollar Microduck reached 2.6 million dollars during the first 24 hours. About 6 hours after the announcement, preorders had crossed 1 million dollars. A current warning on the checkout page says Christmas delivery can no longer be promised for new orders and puts the wait at 4 to 6 months. Pollen Robotics, which builds the robot, and Hugging Face had not answered Business Insider's questions about the orders by publication.[1]
ICE plans a robot-dog purchase
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to buy at least 1 million dollars of robots from Boston Dynamics, according to a Department of Homeland Security announcement. The agency gives officer safety as the purpose of buying from the maker of the dog-like SPOT robots. The plan comes as ICE expands its technology spending. Associated Press reported from public procurement documents that the agency also contracted to buy 6,000 pairs of electric shock gloves for 16.7 million dollars.[2]
Arduino readies an edge-AI board for sale
Arduino opened preorders for the VENTUNO Q development board for edge-AI workloads at an introductory price of 299 dollars, including a 65 watt USB-C power supply. The board pairs an application processor with a real-time controller on the same hardware. The AI unit in its Qualcomm Dragonwing processor supplies 40 dense TOPS, while the board carries 16 GB of memory, 64 GB of storage and 3 camera connections. Deliveries are expected to begin in about 4 weeks, with no preorder quantity limit.[3]
