Samsung Ballie: Rolling AI Assistant on Google AI is Here

Remember Ballie? That yellow, rolling robot Samsung teased back in 2020? Well, it’s not vaporware anymore. After five years of silence, Samsung is finally putting it out in the wild — and now it comes with Google’s Gemini AI under the hood.

Ballie is shaped like a soccer ball, rolls around on tiny wheels like a Roomba, and follows you around your house. But instead of vacuuming, it talks to you, manages your smart home, takes calls, plays videos on your wall, and answers your random questions. Basically, it’s a roving smart speaker that sees, hears, and responds — and it’s powered by both Samsung and Google AI systems.

“It’s more like a personal BB-8 than an Alexa Dot.” — Thomas Kurian, Google Cloud CEO

That’s the idea. This isn’t just another static smart hub that sits on a shelf waiting for commands. Ballie moves. It reacts. It has a built-in projector. It uses cameras to understand its environment and can navigate your space with some real-time intelligence.

Samsung says it’ll hit shelves this summer in the US and South Korea. Only American English and Korean are supported at launch, but the hardware seems built for more. The operating system is Samsung’s own Tizen — the same one found on its TVs — and Ballie will support services like YouTube, Netflix, and Samsung TV Plus right out of the gate.

“It’s a completely new Ballie.” — Jay Kim, EVP at Samsung

The original 2020 version shown off at CES was more of a cute tech concept. This one is rebuilt from the ground up. One major difference is that Google is now deeply involved. Ballie uses Gemini AI to understand spoken commands, interpret visual input from its cameras, and search the web using Google Search. On the backend, there’s some serious hybrid AI wizardry going on — Gemini handles general reasoning and natural language, while Samsung’s own models deal with personalized info like your schedule, contacts, or local weather.

Source: Samsung

That means you can tell Ballie to remind you about your dentist appointment, ask it to turn off the living room lights, or say “come here,” and it’ll actually figure out how to roll over to you.

“When you say, ‘Come here,’ it really senses how to get there.” — Kurian

The thing is, this isn’t just Samsung trying to ride the AI wave. The partnership with Google is a big signal that both companies are taking consumer robotics seriously. According to Kurian, it took a lot of custom work to get Gemini into a mobile, interactive device like this. It’s not some off-the-shelf chatbot in a ball — it’s been tuned specifically for the role of an at-home AI companion.

“We do have people in manufacturing industries that are building other robotics... but this is the only partnership we have with this personalized experience.” — Kurian

What’s also interesting is the future roadmap. Samsung says Ballie is just the beginning. They’re already working on an SDK so developers can build custom apps for it, and video conferencing is also in the pipeline. This isn’t just a toy — it’s a platform.

“It’s the right timing, I believe. As you see, AI is evolving at light speed. We are ready to show it and release it to the market.” — Kim

This might be the first real consumer robot that doesn’t feel like a gimmick. It’s not humanoid, not overly complex, and not trying to replicate your phone. It’s more like an AI roommate that rolls around and handles stuff for you — a mix of functionality, mobility, and personality. Whether it lives up to the hype remains to be seen, but this isn’t just a CES trailer anymore. Ballie’s coming.