Attend enough CES shows and you’re guaranteed to feel a sense of deja vu. That’s because many concepts revealed at the annual consumer electronics trade show are in reality years ahead of becoming a product – proof of concept designs – and they come back to reappear over and over as various iterations. Samsung’s Ballie falls within that category, an AI-powered personal home assistant that rolled into our hearts way back in 2020. The spherical robot has returned for CES 2024, this time with a more impressive array of household functions serving family members, right down to the four-legged variety.
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Compared to the simple spherical launch design, Samsung’s newly updated Ballie robot rolls back into the spotlight with a much more polished and capable 3-wheeled mobile design. It ditches the mostly faceless, Dune stillsuit ribbing of its predecessor for a form reminiscent of the Pixar-designed robot that Samsung’s device rhymes with – with a colorful dash of Among Us thrown in.
Most noticeable is Ballie’s front facing monocular visage that gives the AI-powered assistant its “face.” It’s also a port from where Ballie can project images from to communicate or to be used as a mobile video projector that can be aimed at walls, floors, or ceilings via an onboard projector.
Ballie is being promoted as an autonomous personal home assistant, one that can greet you at the door with the enthusiasm of a beloved canine companion. Your pet may be cuter, but Samsung hopes to make AI robot companions an invaluable member of the household by interconnecting them with their own network of home appliances while also operating as a mobile monitoring system.
Samsung’s CES presentation conjures situations where Ballie is tasked to dispense treats via a connected compatible pet food dispenser (cool!), while also keeping the dog entertained using projected video (questionable).
A small pop-up remote control emerges from the top of Ballie to send signals to turn manage lights, air filtration units, laundry, and other smart home devices.
Ballie is also presented as a home office assistant, summoned to aid in video conference calls and projecting images during collaborative work sessions.
We’re old enough to remember the Sony Aibo and the brief excitement it created with its promises of companionship and robotic services. AI and robotics have evolved considerably since those early days of rudimentary electronics, and an entire emerging market of AI-powered home assistants and other partial-to-fully autonomous robots will pervade spaces interconnected by their devices and appliances. Whether it will be a cute little yellow Samsung droid is yet to be seen, noting the Korean manufacturer has yet to reveal pricing, specs, or availability.
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Source: design-milk