Samsung’s home assistant robot which rolls around the house, Ballie, is set to go on sale later this year. However, the exact timeframe for its Australia launch and its local pricing is yet to be confirmed.
First showcased at CES in 2020, Ballie has grown from a device that was around the size of a softball to one that’s now closer to the dimensions of a volleyball.
One of its main features is a built-in projector that’ll beam images or videos onto various surfaces.
In a previous promotional video, Samsung has demonstrated Ballie aiding video calls, or providing extra displays for computing products.
LiDAR sensors help Ballie navigate and even follow a person or pet around the house without crashing into the furniture or walls.
In the video, Samsung demonstrated a user asking Ballie to “play a movie on the nearest wall” and “follow me to the study, I’ve got to make a video call”.
As a home assistant robot, it can adjust the smart lights, curtains, and the television.
Samsung has showcased Ballie’s capability to undertake tasks such as keeping an eye on your pets while you’re at work.
Ballie could “feed Copper some snacks and play his favourite video”. The snacks were dropped from a smart feeder, with Ballie’s intervention.
An AI chatbot, likely powered by Galaxy AI, was also on board to read messages and enable replies.
With machine learning and AI coming into play, Samsung’s Ballie is designed to “learn and evolve” to understand home occupants’ routines and behaviour.
Samsung’s push into the home robotics space comes as rival Apple is believed to be working on home robotic solutions that could debut as early as next year.
As Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman recently said, Apple is reported to have hundreds of people working on a device “which uses a thin robotic arm to move around a large screen”.
The new device – with the codename J595 – would likely be part of Apple HomeKit’s smart home ecosystem, which Apple says “allows you to control your home using your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch”.
