Samsung's Cute Robot Ballie Ball Is Rolling In With Gemini AI Smarts
05 January 2025, USA, Las Vegas: Samsung demonstrates the Ballie AI household robot at the CES ... More technology trade fair. It can communicate with people and has a projector. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa (Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images)
After years of demos - it was actually shown off over 5 years ago at CES 2020 - Samsung's bright yellow, BB8-esque, home robot is finally going on sale.
The Korean company confirmed that Ballie will roll into homes in the US and Korea this summer, with a juicy AI upgrade courtesy of Google Gemini.
Pre-registration is already live on Samsung's website, so it looks as if, finally, Samsung is serious about turning this longtime prototype into a product you can actually buy.
I've actually seen Ballie rolling around at various CES and IFA expos over the years and it's never really struck me as more than a glorified projector on wheels.
However, thanks to a newly announced partnership between Samsung and Google, Ballie will be infused with Google Cloud's generative AI technology, Gemini.
Combined with Samsung's own LLMs, Samsung informs us that Ballie will be able to 'bring personalized interactions and proactive home assistance to users.'
This means the ability to understand voice, visuals, and environmental data, so it can do more than just roll around and look cute and beam the 2nd season of The Last of Us on to your wall.
It will, we're promised, be a mobile smart home assistant that can interact conversationally, offer things like styling advice, and helping you to create tailored environments in your home.
'Through this partnership, Samsung and Google Cloud are redefining the role of AI in the home,' said Yongjae Kim, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. 'By pairing Gemini's powerful multimodal reasoning with Samsung's AI capabilities in Ballie, we're leveraging the power of open collaboration to unlock a new era of personalized AI companion - one that moves with users, anticipates their needs and interacts in more dynamic and meaningful ways than ever before.'
On paper, it sounds like a blend between a smart display home hub, a life coach, a fashion consultant… and still a projector too, of course.
Ballie includes a built-in projector, microphone, and speaker, so it can beam visuals onto nearby surfaces and respond to voice prompts, even when you're across the room.
It will integrate with Samsung's SmartThings home platform, so things like controlling your lights, thermostat, or robot vacuum should all be on board.
Samsung's been steadily working AI into its broader ecosystem, with the Galaxy S24 series already tapping into Gemini through Google Cloud.
Samsung says this is all part of a 'new era of personalized AI companion,' which sounds ambitious, but also not totally out of sync with what other big tech players are exploring.
LG showed off its own take on a roving home assistant earlier this year, while Apple, Meta, and Google are all reportedly tinkering with robotics behind closed doors as well.
Amazon already has a bit of a robo-fail with Astro but is, of course, pimping AI for the smart home by way of the just-launched Alexa+.
The launch timing may be locked in for the summer but we're still yet to learn the price which could, of course, make or break Ballie's success.
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