New Delhi, Oct. 31 -- I was busy minding my own business online when I came across Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on a stage accompanied by four strange little creatures. For all their metallic and plastic appearance, they were utterly adorable. They waddled about like alien ducks, which may be why they're known as 'Microducks'. These robots don't do very much for a living right now, except look really cute and respond to people with irresistible sounds. They obey commands such as sit, stand up and do a somersault, and topple over when asked to take a nap.

I'm probably not the only one who wanted one of these for no reason at all. And you can get them online. But the idea is to put them in the hands of developers who will give them all sorts of...