Samsung took advantage of its keynote at CES in Las Vegas to present Ballie, a small ball-shaped robot, inturodced as a true domestic companion. With Ballie, it seems that the Korean giant is investing more in the field of robotics.
A personalized assistant who understands you
It was HS Kim, CEO of the Consumer Electronics division of Samsung, who presented the robot in a short demonstration. Ballie followed him on stage while keeping its distance. The robot also greeted the audience in a way reminiscent of iconic Star Wars droids, and then lodged in Kim’s hand when asked.
What can this robot do? In a video that details Ballie’s capabilities Samsung describes him as a “personalized companion who understands and supports you“, like Sony’s Aibo robot dog.
The video shows Samsung Ballie turning on the TV, opening the blinds or activating the robot vacuum if he spots dirt. He can also take pictures of your pet and send them to you when you are away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7N5UDZX7TQ
Will it ever make it to the market? Hard to tell…
Of course, Ballie is still in the concept stage, and there is no guarantee that it will ever be available on the market. Unfortunately, commercial robots hardly achieve the expected success. Among them, we can notably mention the educational robots produced by the company Anki, which ended its activities in May 2019.
Same story for Sphero, at the origin of robots in the shape of balls, but especially the real BB-8, the firm indeed stopped the production of robots in 2018.
