Samsung Confirms Summer Launch For AI Home Robot

Samsung’s home assistant robot Ballie will officially launch this summer in the United States and South Korea, the company confirmed this week.

The ball-shaped robot, which has been in development since 2020, will now incorporate Google’s Gemini AI through a new partnership between Samsung and Google Cloud.

According to Samsung, the integration with Gemini will enable Ballie to process and respond to different types of input, including voice commands, images from its onboard camera, and data from environmental sensors, in real time. This could allow users to interact with the robot in a more natural and responsive way.

“Through this partnership, Samsung and Google Cloud are redefining the role of AI in the home,” said Yongjae Kim, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics.

“By pairing Gemini’s powerful multimodal reasoning with Samsung’s AI capabilities in Ballie, we’re leveraging the power of open collaboration to unlock a new era of personalized AI companion — one that moves with users, anticipates their needs and interacts in more dynamic and meaningful ways than ever before,” he added.

Ballie is designed to do a number of things: it can turn lights on and off, welcome people at the door, remind people of things, and change the settings of the home. It also has features for wellbeing support – such as offering tips on energy levels or sleep, based on user input like “I feel tired today.”

Samsung says Ballie will be able to combine Gemini’s generative reasoning with its own language models to suggest context-aware responses. For example, it might recommend clothing or accessories when asked for style advice.

“With Gemini on Google Cloud, Samsung is demonstrating how to deploy generative AI at scale, integrating it directly into the heart of their popular products,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.

The Verge notes that Ballie’s AI functions were first demonstrated at CES 2025, where it was shown projecting information on walls, identifying wine pairings, and responding to voice commands. The company has not yet provided a price or confirmed specific market availability beyond the U.S. and Korea.

Because Ballie relies on cloud-based AI processing through Google’s Gemini, any vulnerabilities in data transmission or storage could expose sensitive information. The camera images and conversation recordings from Ballie could potentially be stolen or misused by unauthorized parties without user consent.

The risk of model exploitation or prompt injection attacks which trigger unexpected behavior remains a concern for many AI-integrated devices. Samsung has not yet detailed what kind of encryption, data handling policies, or user controls will be in place for Ballie, though it says privacy and security are a priority.

As home robots gain more autonomy and decision-making capabilities, cybersecurity will likely become a key issue, not only for manufacturers, but for consumers looking to balance convenience with digital safety.

While companies including Apple, Meta, and LG are exploring home robotics, widespread adoption remains limited. Whether Ballie can establish a role for general-purpose home robots is yet to be seen, but its upcoming launch marks a step in that direction.