Samsung’s Ballie is a cute little rolling robot your doggo would fall in love with  

Samsung is working on a home companion robot called Ballie that might just be the first step in getting these things a step closer to mainstream. Ballie isn’t the world’s first home companion robot. Also, it’s very limited when it comes to actual usage for now. Plus, it’s only a concept – there’s no word if it’s ever going to make its way beyond Samsung’s promotional videos, one of which it showed off at CES 2020 in Las Vegas. But one look at the video, and you’re bound to fall in love with it – it's that cute. Even better if you’re into Star Wars! 

To be fair, Samsung also had a semi-working prototype on stage for a short demo. For starters, the thing looks like a ball – hence the name, ‘Ballie.’ It would remind you of a smaller BB-8 – that’s the Star Wars connection. It has a camera and sensors on-board. It can follow you around (the house) - it can also seemingly roll right into your hands when you call out to it. Plus, it makes these cute robot sounds. What’s not to love? 

Sadly, the demo left a lot to be desired since rolling and following people around the house seems all that Ballie can do at this point of time. But there’s a lot more that Samsung believes it’s capable of – but that’s possibly going to take some more time. In a promo video shown off by the company, Ballie is seen being quite a handful around the house. It can open the blinds, turn on the TV, summon your ‘smart’ vacuum and – make sure your pet doggo doesn’t feel lonely when you’re not around.  

The concept of a home companion robot is straight-forward. It’s designed to help you around the house, right from security to ensuring your elderly can have a no-fuss tool to stay connected. Samsung puts it a little more delicately. Ballie is “a small, rolling robot that understands you, supports you, and reacts to your needs to be actively helpful around the house.” 

Privacy concerns

But with greater smart living also comes the scare of privacy. Samsung says Ballie uses on-device AI to “maintain stringent data protection and privacy standards.” 

“We believe AI is the future of personalized care. We see on-device AI as central to truly personalized experiences. On-device AI puts you in control of your information and protects your privacy, while still delivering the power of personalization,” Sebastian Seung, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Scientist at Samsung Electronics said in a statement. 

We will of course have to wait for Ballie to officially roll into the market to get a better idea of what’s in store. For now, well, let’s just revel at how awe-some this little bundle of beeps and boops is!  

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