Remember Ballie, Samsung’s spherical home robot from CES 2020? I sure didn’t — until Samsung brought it back at this year’s keynote with a few on-trend AI upgrades.
Key Takeaway
Samsung has unveiled the upgraded Ballie, a home robot with advanced AI capabilities, at CES 2024. The robot comes with features such as a spatial lidar sensor, a 1080p projector, and the ability to control devices via voice commands or text messages.
New Features of Ballie
- Size of a bowling ball
- Battery designed to last two to three hours
- Spatial lidar sensor for navigation
- 1080p projector with two lenses for projecting movies and video calls
- Voice and text message control capabilities
- Ability to turn on smart lights and control “non-smart” devices
- Mapping of floor plan and identification of smart devices within a home
The new and improved Ballie, previewed during Samsung’s press conference at CES 2024, is around the size of a bowling ball and is equipped with a battery designed to last two to three hours. It sports a spatial lidar sensor to help it navigate rooms and obstacles, as well as a 1080p projector with two lenses that allows the robot to project movies and video calls and even act as a second PC monitor.
Ballie can be controlled with voice commands or, intriguingly, requests sent via text message (e.g. “play a movie on the nearest wall”). In the latter case, Ballie will respond with the aid of a chatbot to confirm requests before taking action.
Promising Features and Future Prospects
Samsung’s promising a lot beyond these basics, like automatic reminders to water plants around the house, access to remote medical services (for older household members) and personalization depending on who the robot senses nearby. But the details of these — as with Ballie’s availability and pricing — have yet to be firmed up.
The question is, will any of these features compel homeowners to buy Ballie when — or if, rather — it reaches the market? Home robots have never been a slam-dunk, as recently demonstrated by Amazon’s attempt. Another promising attempt within the last few years, Mayfield Robotics, which hoped to sell a home robot in partnership with Bosch, ceased operations before shipping a single unit to early customers. Perhaps Samsung will fare better. We’ll have to wait and see.
