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Samsung and Google Partner To Launch Ballie Home Robot with Built-in Projector (engadget.com)

(Wednesday April 09, 2025 @11:30AM (msmash) from the shape-of-things-to-come dept.)


Samsung Electronics and Google Cloud are jointly [1]entering the consumer robotics market with Ballie , a yellow, soccer-ball-shaped robot equipped with a video projector and powered by Google's Gemini AI models. First previewed in 2020, the long-delayed device will finally launch this summer in the US and South Korea. The mobile companion uses small wheels to navigate homes autonomously and integrates with Samsung's SmartThings platform to control smart home devices.

Running on Samsung's Tizen operating system, Ballie can manage calendars, answer questions, handle phone calls, and project video content from services including YouTube and Netflix. Samsung EVP Jay Kim described it as a "completely new Ballie" compared to the 2020 version, with Google Cloud integration being the most significant change. The robot leverages Gemini for understanding commands, searching the web, and processing visual data for navigation, while using Samsung's AI models for accessing personal information.



[1] https://www.engadget.com/ai/samsungs-cute-ballie-robot-arrives-this-summer-with-google-gemini-in-tow-133658886.html



And It's Easy To Kick It (Score:1)

by zenlessyank ( 748553 )

When it pisses you off.

Re: (Score:2)

by cusco ( 717999 )

If I need something short that follows me around the house to trip over, well I already have a dog for that.

Ugly (Score:2)

by bjoast ( 1310293 )

What an ugly piece of shit. Looks like a trash can.

No chance (Score:2)

by karmawarrior ( 311177 )

Let's look at everything against this:

1. LLMs with everything is not proving popular. Gemini especially given them forcing it into every Google search means we can see how utterly braindead and useless it is.

2. No apparent use, it's a glorified Amazon Echo but way more expensive to build and even more privacy intruding

3. The amount of people with spending money is going to radically decrease in the near term if a world wide recession happens, which seems probable.

Unless they can churn these out by the milli

Naming Dept (Score:2)

by kid_wonder ( 21480 )

"Ballie" is just a bit on-the-nose

Not that they should go to the pharmaceutical company level of naming, but c'mon show a bit of effort.

Re: Naming Dept (Score:2)

by zawarski ( 1381571 )

The full name is Ballie McBallFace.

If it's already round... (Score:1)

by sabbede ( 2678435 )

...why does it need wheels?

Re: (Score:2)

by GoTeam ( 5042081 )

> ...why does it need wheels?

It's a robot self-esteem thing. The robots without wheels get mocked mercilessly by the other robots...

Ad ball (Score:2)

by GrahamJ ( 241784 )

So a camera connected to the world’s largest ad network roaming around your home.

Hell. No.

Re: Ad ball (Score:2)

by PPH ( 736903 )

A projector on wheels. Now when you get up to take a piss during a station break, the ads just follow you.

And when google... (Score:2)

by MpVpRb ( 1423381 )

...shuts down the server, it's a round brick

The cloud is a trap

Run away

That's the beautiful part (Score:2)

by i kan reed ( 749298 )

It doesn't do anything(other than spy on you)

I didn't like the play, but I saw it under adverse conditions. The curtain
was up.