Ballie, the moving robot that reappeared at CES last year, will be delivered to consumers as a real product sometime in 2025. At least, that’s what Samsung says. We first met Ballie at CES five years ago. Since then, the robot has undergone a more practical redesign, so maybe it will actually happen – but I’m still more skeptical than not.
Am I the only one who thinks those wheels look a little flimsy? Perhaps Samsung is deliberately betting on a weakness and planning in case Ballie secretly gathers an army and comes against us.
In any case, Ballie is preparing for another appearance at CES here in Las Vegas. During the Samsung First Look event last night, I watched the latest canned demonstration of the round bot. Its operator asked for information about the nearest Sphere attraction, which Ballie initially projected onto the ground. But when the cameraman asked for more details and directions, Ballie automatically turned around and pointed its image at a nearby wall to have more room to work with.
From there, Ballie was asked to show a movie. It was Sony’s The Uncharted, and when told to zoom in, Ballie was smart enough to find a wall on which to place the enlarged projection. The image wasn’t particularly bright; Ballie does a better job when it directs the beam at the floor directly in front of it. Don’t expect any ANSI-standard brightness miracles from this rather small gadget. The built-in speakers were loud enough, at least, and didn’t sound tinny.
In another interaction, the person demonstrating Ballie picked up a couple of bottles of wine and asked the robot which one would go better with his dinner, demonstrating that Ballie has some visual AI abilities at its disposal. Most of the queries were answered within seconds with no lag. But then again, I only saw a very controlled demonstration, and for all I know, it’s possible that this Ballie already had these answers programmed in. I trust absolutely nothing on this show.
and communicate with Ballie by voice, and sometimes the robot also projects virtual buttons on the floor that you can step on to make choices. (I’m curious what its accessibility features might mean.) Samsung has also given Ballie great powers in the smart home; you can have it control lights and various routine tasks.
Samsung has told publications such as CNET and TechCrunch that Ballie will indeed be released this year. TechRadar got an even more specific timeline – “first half of 2025”. It’s possible that Samsung will share more details during its CES keynote later today. As for the price, you can guess as well as I can. What’s a fair price for a robot that you’ll be showing off to everyone you know for weeks on end? That is, until you resent Ballie for not living up to your expectations of BB-8 and WALL-E.
