Samsung's Ballie robot is actually coming out – and it's powered by Google Gemini
The smart home robot is officially shipping to customers this summer.
🤖 Samsung is releasing its smart home robot it teased at CES
🦾 Called Ballie, the robot is like a smart assistant speaker on wheels
📽️ It can project video calls on your wall, messages, and more
🤝 Samsung and Google even partnered to bring Gemini to Ballie
📅 It’s supposed to come out this summer, but we don’t know for how much
We see a lot of robots at CES that typically never make it to market, but Samsung’s Ballie home assistant bot is officially destined for consumers after being teased for five years at the tech show. Ballie is a smart home robot that can respond to commands like a smart speaker can, but instead of remaining in place, it uses a couple of wheels and cameras to navigate around your home and answer your questions. The most interesting part? It’s gaining Google Gemini before it ships.
🤖 H.E.R.B.I.E. meets BB-8. Ballie looks a lot like BB-8 on the outside, and it’s essentially Samsung’s take on H.E.R.B.I.E. from Marvel’s Fantastic Four. It’s built to be your at-home smart assistant, answering questions like your Amazon Echo or Google Nest Home does.
🛞 A smart assistant on wheels… and steroids. The robot comes with two wheels that help it get around your house, while the equipped microphone and speaker let you ask it questions and get answers. There’s also a built-in projector that can project responses to your questions, as well as video – including live video calls.
🦾 Smarter with Gemini. Samsung and Google’s partnership brings Gemini AI to Ballie, which makes responses even more intelligent. The generative AI will enable more natural conversations and complex interactions like greeting people at your door, personalizing schedules, setting reminders, and even giving you fashion advice by pointing its camera at you and recommending accessories.
🏡 All the other smart home stuff, too. Ballie has a lot of capabilities crammed into its spherical form factor. Along with advanced AI, the robot also ties into Samsung SmartThings to control your smart home. Whether it’s your TV, lights, shades, fans, ovens, or other appliances, you can tell Ballie to control them all.
🚛 It’s a lot. There seems to be no lack of capabilities with Ballie, but it’s unclear what the robot’s primary use case will be. Samsung seems to be throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, so it’s fair to think that the company will be paying close attention to user behavior for future generations. Until then, we have a yellow ball that can follow you everywhere, have conversations with you, control your home, give you fashion advice, and much more.
🥇 Right ahead of the competition. Samsung isn’t the only one making smart home robots. Apple is rumored to be working on one, as is Meta. LG also has a Ballie alternative in its labs. Releasing Ballie before everyone else will give Samsung an advantage, of course, and it’ll allow the company to see how the public reacts before any other company can.
☀️ A summer release, but no price yet. Samsung says Ballie will start shipping this summer. However, it’s unclear how much it’ll cost. The company has never shipped a robot like this before, so we don’t exactly know how to guess the price, either. Of course, when we find out, we’ll let you know. In the meantime, you can pre-register to place an order.
Max Buondonno is an editor at The Shortcut. He’s been reporting on the latest consumer technology since 2015, with his work featured on CNN Underscored, ZDNET, How-To Geek, XDA, TheStreet, and more. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop and Instagram @LegendaryScoop.