Latest news with #YongjaeKim
Forbes
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
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.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Samsung adds Google's Gemini to its home robot Ballie
Samsung said on Wednesday that it's adding Google's Gemini AI to its home robot Ballie through a partnership with Google Cloud. Users will be able to ask the robot different queries to get answers from Gemini, said the companies. Samsung aims to tap into Gemini's multimodal capabilities for its robot. The Korean tech giant said it'll pair its own AI with Google's to enable audio and video inputs for Ballie to answer different questions. For instance, you'll be able to ask the bot, "How am I looking?" and it'll give outfit suggestions using its camera and visual intelligence. Ballie will also be able to tap Gemini to give health-related recommendations — for example, exercise suggestions and ways to improve sleep. Beyond that, you'll be able to ask the robot a range of general knowledge queries. "Through this partnership, Samsung and Google Cloud are redefining the role of AI in the home," said Yongjae Kim, EVP of Samsung's visual display business, in a statement. "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." Samsung has been showing off different versions of Ballie at trade shows like CES for years now. Earlier in 2025, the company said the robot would finally reach consumers in South Korea and the U.S. in the first half of this year. Samsung had already partnered with Google to integrate Gemini with its Galaxy series smartphones, starting with the Galaxy S24. Samsung and Google are also reportedly working on an XR device, and Gemini may end up being central to that experience.
