HIM ARENA · MICRODUCK CHALLENGE

Make the duck play sports.

Microduck is a $399 open-source biped with a complete reinforcement learning and sim-to-real stack. Build it a sport, train or script a policy, publish the source, and show us the result.

Submissions closed · $3,000 in prizes

Four colorful Microduck robots in different poses.

Winners

Runners-up

PUBLIC SUBMISSIONS

All submissions

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Microduck Mini-Golf — Real Cup + Goal-Conditioned Kick
Microduck Runner-up · Best Sports SimMicroduck Mini-Golf — Real Cup + Goal-Conditioned Kick

Microduck mini-golf sports build: real recessed MuJoCo cup, frozen Pollen 61→14 locomotion/kick primitives, and a goal-conditioned megapolicy that observes ball, cup, friction, slope, and physical gates to select kick heading/force. PPO continuation WIP. Public repo: https://github.com/ob1-s/microduck-mini-golf. Microduck Sports challenge tagging was rejected by the upload API; this is the public ready fallback.

Bruno Oliveira's profile photoBruno OliveiraMicroduck
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3v3 Soccer
3v3 Soccer

Built a 3v3 RL Soccer Microduck trained on 80 GPU-hrs

Mikul Rai's profile photoMikul RaiMicroduck
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The Flash by Ozmium
The Flash by Ozmium

Rendered Microduck outfit concept - The Flash: scarlet suit, gold boots, gold cowl blades and a chest roundel struck with a scarlet bolt, worn through a simulated 5 m dash in MuJoCo. The kit is geom_rgba plus six zero-density, non-colliding geoms; duck_outfit.py compiles the robot dressed and bare and proves masses, inertias, actuators and contacts identical. Rendered only; no hardware.

Steve Pederzani's profile photoSteve PederzaniMicroduck
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Ozmium
Ozmium

Trained simulated MicroDuck sprint policy (MuJoCo): a 5 m dash with every joint clipped to the XL330 servo's real 1.75 A current limit, 50 Hz, 40 ms actuator delay, sensor noise, domain randomization. Fastest of 240 seeded runs: 5.00 m in 3.55 s, then a commanded brake and a fall, all closed-loop, nothing keyframed. The Flash costume is zero-mass paint, verified by script. Simulation only; not validated on hardware.

Steve Pederzani's profile photoSteve PederzaniMicroduck
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Duck-Man: Maze Tag for Microduck
Duck-Man: Maze Tag for Microduck

Maze tag for 5 real Microducks in MuJoCo (Pollen's BAM actuators). Trained here: a stand-up policy (PPO) and the Duck-Man strategy net (imitation, then evolution in-sim); ghosts scripted, gaits Pollen's. 60 held-out seeds: learned 406, planner 360, disabled 0. Sim only.

nyle-prosal's profile photonyle-prosalMicroduck
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Don Pato - The Endless Siesta
Microduck Runner-up · Most Creative OutfitDon Pato - The Endless Siesta

Rendered 3D Microduck surf outfit: turquoise vest with palm/wave embroidery, cream piping, coral trim, gold zip, open visor and wooden longboard. The selected AI concept is rebuilt on genuine Pollen geometry. Editable Blender project and 12-second multi-angle video included. Concept only, not physical surfing or manufactured clothing. Source: https://github.com/jrubiosainz/microduck-him-2026-submissions

jrubiosainz's profile photojrubiosainzMicroduck
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QUACK SPLASH - Capture the Flag
QUACK SPLASH - Capture the Flag

Two teams of 3 Microducks play paintball: hits with paint-filled balls eliminate opponents. Win by carrying the rival flag home in the beak. MuJoCo simulation; scripted control with pretrained motion. Full 97.68s game. Contact-triggered ideal grip; estimated jaw dynamics. Costume graphics only; no hardware claim. Source: https://github.com/jrubiosainz/microduck-him-2026-submissions

jrubiosainz's profile photojrubiosainzMicroduck
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Microduck Penalty Shootout: 58/60 called shots on target (PPO, simulated)
Microduck Penalty Shootout: 58/60 called shots on target (PPO, simulated)

A Microduck that is told which third of the goal to aim at, and hits it. Before every shot the policy is commanded left, centre or right, and it scores inside the commanded zone 58 times out of 60, holding 94.7 percent across 300 further shots. After a goal, a second learned policy takes over and celebrates. What to notice: it is aiming, not just kicking.

Scott Middlecamp's profile photoScott MiddlecampMicroduck
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Duck Duck Goose: The Propeller Hat League
Microduck Winner · Best Sports SimDuck Duck Goose: The Propeller Hat League

Six Microducks play Duck Duck Goose in colorful overalls and propeller hats. Scripted strategy, gaze and beak-tag gestures use Pollen Robotics’ pretrained walking/sit-stand networks; no new training. Three scored rounds with seated spectators and role swaps. Disabling runner navigation produces a physical catch; disabling reach prevents the opening tap. Free-base MuJoCo physics, no balance assistance. Source and limitations linked in the README at https://github.com/maddiedreese/duck-duck-goose

Maddie D. Reese's profile photoMaddie D. ReeseMicroduck
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Gettin’ Gritty With It
Gettin’ Gritty With It

I love Gritty, so I rendered a Gritty-inspired Microduck costume: orange shag, googly eyes and a hockey sweater. A head-bob dance uses a small imitation policy trained on HIM, with Pollen Robotics’ pretrained balance. A separate cake-toss take uses a HIM-optimized neck gesture and a beak-mounted serving paddle. Cake flight comes from MuJoCo contact and gravity. Two staged takes; cosmetic fur/clothing, a rigid cake, no hardware validation. Repo at https://github.com/maddiedreese/gritty-microduck

Maddie D. Reese's profile photoMaddie D. ReeseMicroduck
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Duck Duck Goalie
Duck Duck Goalie

Striker Microduck vs keeper Microduck in MuJoCo. The keeper shuffles along its line to cut down the angle; it concedes 2 of 20 where a stationary duck concedes 14, and saves 8 of the 9 genuine shots it faces. All learned skills are Pollen Robotics' pretrained networks used for inference — we trained nothing. Built on Soren Larson's Double D (Apache-2.0). Simulation only, no hardware validation.

aoalp's profile photoaoalpMicroduck
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Microduck Soccer Kick
Microduck Soccer Kick

Trained policy for just the action of a microduck kicking a simulated ball into a net

AdamBangash's profile photoAdamBangashMicroduck
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double-d
Work in progress
double-dSoren Larson's profile photoSoren LarsonMicroduck
About the completed challengeFour colorful Microduck robots in different poses.

Builders created sports simulations and original outfits for Microduck, an open-source biped. Entries closed September 8, 2026 · 5:00 PM PST.

Cash prizes are subject to the Challenge Rules.

Questions? team@himrobotics.com