Samsung’s long-in-the-works Ballie home robot will finally go on sale in the United States later this year, with a significant added bonus courtesy of Google.
The “proactive home assistant” will also come with Google Gemini on board, Samsung said in a joint announcement with Google today.
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Gemini has become a prominent part of the company’s Galaxy AI phones so it’s not a huge surprise for the company to bring Google on-board with Ballie.
It seems like a significant boost for the projector-laden home robot, which will be available in the US and South Korea from this summer.
Because Gemini has multimodal capabilities – meaning it can interpret various input means – Ballie will be able to understand audio, voice, and visuals, as well as data from smart home sensors.
“This will allow it to adapt its behaviours and responses in real-time, Samsung says in a press release. “For instance, if you’re not sure what to wear to work in the morning, you can turn to Ballie for advice. Users could ask, “Hey Ballie, how do I look?” and Ballie can respond with styling recommendations, such as trying new accessories or adding a colourful shirt.
As Gemini leverages the power of Google Search, Ballie owners might tell the robot they “feel tired today” with the volleyball-on-wheels offering advice on boosting energy levels from trusted sources on the web.
There’s no word yet on the price and release date for Ballie and whether the cute little robot might be heading for the UK. We’ll keep you posted.
Samsung and Google in cahoots again
Samsung and Google continue to bolster there partnership around AI. The company have been close allies in the smartphone era, but is even closer aligned than ever now. Samsung helped Google build the new WearOS and was the first to use it on hardware, for instance. Gemini features like Circle to Search arrived on Samsung Galaxy phones first too. On the Galaxy S25 there’s even a hardware button dedicated to accessing Gemini.
With Apple struggling to get its own AI efforts off the ground, Samsung is probably smart to align itself with Google’s advanced Gemini tools, as well as continuing with its own Galaxy AI efforts. Apple is reportedly working on home robots too, but Ballie with Gemini looks like a tough proposition to beat.
