Samsung’s Ballie made waves at CES 2020 as a concept for a home robot that could one day roam your house. In 2024, Samsung brought it back to CES to say that it was equipping the device with a projector capable of broadcasting information and content to different surfaces. At CES 2025 in Las Vegas, the company is going even further and announcing that it will ship the rolling robot this year to the United States.
We don’t have pricing or a release schedule yet, but during a presentation, the Wall-E-like robot was able to share information about Las Vegas attractions, turn on the lights, and various smart home products by voice command and project the film. Unexplored on a nearby wall.
When Ballie was asked to “enlarge the screen,” the circular robot turned around to find another wall onto which it could project a larger image. The device has built-in speakers for sound.
In addition to voice commands, Ballie also recognizes your “foot presses” on a virtual button to perform a task, like saying OK or “show me more.” A set of cameras and sensors make this virtual interaction possible. After being presented with two wines and asked which would pair best with steak, Ballie was able to use your “foot presses” to ask follow-up questions and eventually provide a recommendation.
Samsung is not the first company to try to bring robots into homes. For the past two years, Amazon has sold its Astro home robot, which is powered by Alexa and can move around the house, but today it is only selling the $1,600 device through “exclusive invitations“LG has also displayed its ambitions for home robots at previous CES shows, but it is unclear when or if these products will ever be available.
Even Apple is rumored to be expanding into the smart home space, with a report last year suggesting it was exploring the sector. More recent rumors have claimed that Apple could share news about new smart home products as early as March.
