CES 2025: Samsung's new AI robot assistant Ballie
“Available to consumers this summer, Ballie can engage in natural, conversational interactions to help users manage the home environment, including adjusting lighting, greeting people at the door, personalizing schedules, setting reminders and more,” the press release said, referring to the robot's implementation of Google Gemini.
It is now 2026 and Ballie still hasn't come out of the closet. Bloomberg reported today that the device has been “shelved indefinitely.” The publication noted that a company spokesperson called Ballie an “active innovation platform” for internal use, which is noticeably different from calling it a gadget that people will eventually be able to buy.
“After several years of real-world testing, it continues to inform how Samsung designs spatially aware, context-driven experiences, especially in areas such as smart home intelligence, ambient AI and privacy-by-design,” a Samsung spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg.
The website for registration to “get the chance to meet Ballie first” is still active and it is possible that Samsung could still release Ballie.
But for now, Samsung may not be confident that Ballie will consistently deliver the advertised features over a long period of time and/or generate enough interest among people who can afford the likely high price for a home robot. With many tech companies rethinking their approach to chatbots, AI in smart speakers and home robots, Samsung may have decided it made more sense to pull features from Ballie for use in other products. Ballie should probably look deeper into how it can be more useful and reliable before Samsung comes to market – if that ever happens.
