I Saw the Future of Robotics in a Virtual Duck That Chases My Cat

Allow me to introduce you to the robot cat butler I’m developing with help from AI.Using OpenAI’s GPT-6 Sol, I taught a virtual version of Microduck—a cute robot from Pollen Robotics and Hugging Face—to walk around a room and identify any bengal cats in its vicinity. (The clip above shows the robot waddling toward a target feline; its eye view is shown top right.)I’m still waiting patiently for a physical Microduck—please hurry up and ship it, guys—but simulated behavior is relatively simple, so it should transfer over to the real thing. I plan to have the robot automatically dispense a treat for my pet bengal, Leona, perhaps by bowing its head to release one from a 3D-printed, head-mounted storage chamber.I was able to code and train the virtual robot in just a few hours,…