Samsung’s roundest, most-kickable robot, Ballie, has sat spinning its wheels in the back rooms of the Korean tech giant’s labs for years. Ballie is Samsung’s wheeled smart device that’s meant to act as both companion and assistant. It has a built-in projector, camera sensors to “see” and move around its environment, and a speaker to talk with users. The big news today is that Samsung said it is integrating Google’s cloud-based Gemini AI models into the robot for “natural, conversational interactions” for tasks such as greeting guests, changing smart lights, or setting reminders.
Samsung claims Ballie is still using some “proprietary Samsung language models” for tasks too including offering advice for what to wear or what styles of hairdo you may want to try next. Ballie will use Google Search to offer “tailored advice” for users when they’re feeling lethargic. No, you shouldn’t rely on Google for health advice, and we hope Dr. Ballie doesn’t try to reinforce any bad habits when random hallucinations.
In a release, Samsung said Ballie should be available sometime “this summer.” We have to see it to believe it though because Samsung has been talking up the capabilities of this round little robot since 2020. In those first iterations, Ballie had a ribbed look akin to a rubber band ball with several peering sensors out the front. Then, at CES 2024, the company offered a new vision for Ballie with a tennis ball look and a wider viewscreen and built-in projector. At this year’s CES, Samsung promoted its improved AI capabilities allowing it to answer users’ queries. In an effort to explain why anyone would need a tiny rolling robot (besides the base need of just having a tiny rolling robot) Samsung has showcased how the bot could patrol your home, entertain your pets, and connect through other SmartThings-enabled devices.
Samsung’s big vision for smart home is a world where your devices know your habits and accomplish tasks on your behalf, whether that’s setting up a meal plan for you or creating mood lighting after you arrive home from a long work trip. Part of that endeavor is sticking screens on every appliance you own, including your vacuum, but the cutesy Ballie seems appropriate for Samsung’s ideal tech-filled home too. Ballie is a physical device you interact with, rather than yet another display. Users are supposed to interact with its built-in projector like a touchscreen on either the floor or wall. Plus, Ballie actually looks cute, evoking what we all imagined a robot-filled future would actually be like.
We last saw Ballie in January with some of these supposed AI capabilities, like the ability to suggest a choice of wine, but we haven’t seen the bot interact with users beyond staged demos. Since then, Amazon debuted Alexa+, the company’s smart home AI that claims to accomplish many of the same tasks as Samsung’s robot but from an Echo Show device. Amazon enabled Alexa+ in early access for some users last week. While you can use it to manage some of your smart home tech with your voice, its first initial implementation is missing many features promoted by the retail giant, such as easy food ordering through Amazon Fresh. The Washington Post reported based on leaked internal documents that some of these missing features didn’t meet Amazon’s standard for release and are still two months out, at least.
Those Alexa+ struggles have me weary of a lot of this field of AI-powered smart home tool. We’ve got to stay skeptical until we see Ballie in the flesh (or, I guess, in the silicon). Samsung has a habit of demoing wild and wacky tech products, like its fitness exoskeleton, but never bringing them to market. But it also can have a habit of actually delivering on the weird. It did promoted its glasses-less 3D monitor for years, and on Tuesday it actually became available to preorder (for $2,000). Anything can happen! And I suspect a high price will be one of Ballie’s future surprises. Samsung and every other tech company are dealing with the impact of Trump tariffs making a mess of supply chains and its first home robot isn’t going to be cheap. But if Ballie rolls its way into our homes, it will be one of the more expensive ways to add more trip hazards to your home.
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