On this year’s CONSUMER ELECTRONIC SHOW (CES) Samsung unveiled a cute curious guest – BALLIE, a rolling robot equipped with a camera and enough smarts to sense people around it and control connected appliances around the house. The company says it made Ballie to understand and support your needs — essentially, it can run your smart home for you.
In an onstage demo, Ballie followed Samsung consumer electronics division CEO H.S. Kim on the stage by rolling around, seemingly by using the camera to track Kim as he walked across the stage. Ballie also gave cute little robotic chimes in response to a couple of commands from Kim, and it even rolled right into Kim’s hands when he called for it.
In the demo video below, you can see Ballie following a person and their dog through a home as they go about their day, and silently helping out where possible by adjusting smart blinds, firing up a washing machine, summoning a robot vacuum cleaner, and even turning on the TV to keep the pooch occupied. Samsung noted that Ballie also comes with on-device AI capabilities, and can act as a fitness assistant to help with your workouts.
The Ballie name actually emerged in trademark filings last month. Samsung said it wanted to use the term for robots with various functions, such as cleaning, teaching, security surveillance and daily chores.
The Ballie name actually emerged in trademark filings last month. Samsung said it wanted to use the term for robots with various functions, such as cleaning, teaching, security surveillance and daily chores.
This isn’t the first rolling robot we’ve seen. Sony gave it a go back in 2007 with its Rolly music playing bot; in 2016, LG fit an 8-megapixel camera into its imaginatively named ‘Rolling Bot’ to pair with its G5 flagship phone, keep an eye on your house, act as an intercom, entertain your pets, and even turn on your home appliances. Neither of these made any real impact on the gadget market, though — but perhaps they were ahead of their time.
Samsung didn’t share any information about when Ballie might come out or how much it might cost when it’s available, so it’s hard to know if we can ever get the chance to see if it will live up to Samsung’s bold vision that it presented at CES. But for now, it at least looks like a cute little robot that could be a companion around the house — that is, if it’s something you’ll actually be able to buy.
The Ballie name actually emerged in trademark filings last month. Samsung said it wanted to use the term for robots with various functions, such as cleaning, teaching, security surveillance and daily chores.
This isn’t the first rolling robot we’ve seen. Sony gave it a go back in 2007 with its Rolly music playing bot; in 2016, LG fit an 8-megapixel camera into its imaginatively named ‘Rolling Bot’ to pair with its G5 flagship phone, keep an eye on your house, act as an intercom, entertain your pets, and even turn on your home appliances. Neither of these made any real impact on the gadget market, though — but perhaps they were ahead of their time. Samsung didn’t share any information about when Ballie might come out or how much it might cost when it’s available, so it’s hard to know if we can ever get the chance to see if it will live up to Samsung’s bold vision that it presented at CES. But for now, it at least looks like a cute little robot that could be a companion around the house — that is, if it’s something you’ll actually be able to buy.
