Technology and Scienceupdated 33m ago2 min read
Nvidia Introduces MicroDuck Mini Robots With Isaac Lab 3.0 And Newton Physics Engine
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Nvidia unveils MicroDuck mini robots ($399) for training via Isaac Lab 3.0 and Newton engine. Enables transfer of trained policies from simulation to the real MicroDucks.
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Microducks go on sale
Nvidia introduced MicroDuck mini robots at its event, describing them as small open robots priced at $399 that developers can train with their own behaviors. Nvidia paired the MicroDuck offering with Isaac Lab 3.0 and the Newton physics engine, and the package aimed to facilitate training skills in simulation and their subsequent transfer to the real robot. For Isaac Lab 3.0, Nvidia said it runs up to 4,096 simulated environments in parallel and reaches 1.25 million training steps per second.
For the Newton physics engine, Nvidia said it models friction, latency and mechanical clearances, factors that it said make the difference between a clean simulation and the real behavior of a robot. Preorders of the Microducks surpassed 20,000 units by the next day after Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue posted that figure.
RTX Spark training workflow
Nvidia’s technical report described RTX Spark as part of the development and local evaluation of Microduck, with Isaac Lab used for training and Isaac Sim used for evaluation. Nvidia said Isaac Lab handles training, which tunes a policy from experience in simulation, and Isaac Sim evaluates a chosen version. NVIDIA specified 4,096 simulation environments in parallel on an NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Workstation Edition for a locomotion policy adaptation to ramps and obstacles.
Hermes and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Bolt convert an indication into a plan, and Astra assists with resource creation developed with FreeCAD and Blender. Isaac Sim assembles and simulates the environment, and Isaac Lab trains the policies with the Newton physics engine.
Huang demo drives demand
Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, interacted with several Microducks during a presentation at the Berlin GTC conference, asking them to perform movements including a somersault.
Revista Semana quoted Huang saying, "Did you know you were created here? You were created in RTX Spark," while he discussed how the robots were prepared.
Revista Semana also quoted Huang saying, "And they trained you in the cloud on a bunch of Nvidia supercomputers," as he described the training environment.
Microducks robot preorders hit 20,000 after Nvidia CEO's viral demo at GTC Berlin, and it said the robots are expected to ship by Christmas.
Hugging Face’s Clem Delangue expected the Microducks to be delivered in time for Christmas, tying the preorder surge to the holiday timeline.