Samsung Electronics Co. has once again put Ballie on hold—a long-awaited robot first introduced six years ago but never launched.
The device, intended to roll and navigate through the home, is notably missing from this week’s CES, the largest electronics trade event. Although Samsung claimed last year that Ballie was close to being ready for retail, it now seems the product will not appear anytime soon.
In a statement sent via email, Samsung described Ballie as an “active innovation platform” within the organization, indicating it is not a forthcoming consumer product.
The company has taken insights garnered from Ballie into other products, including robot vacuums and smart home devices. While Samsung has not outright canceled Ballie as a consumer product, the statement implies that the robot is currently sidelined.
From its inception, Ballie has both vanished and reemerged several times since its original showcase at CES 2020. The round, yellow robot, often compared to a Star Wars droid, was introduced as a comprehensive smart home assistant at the conference two years ago. At that time, Samsung promoted its capabilities to project videos onto walls, patrol the home to check on pets, and manage devices like smart lights and thermostats.
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Ballie made another appearance at CES 2025, where Samsung offered controlled demonstrations of specific features such as movie projection, camera-based subject detection, and voice interactions. The South Korean company indicated that the robot would launch sometime in 2025.
In June, Samsung announced a partnership with Alphabet Inc.’s Google to help bring Ballie, now powered by the Gemini AI platform, to market. The company had aimed for a late summer release, but did not meet its deadline.
Ballie’s absence is particularly noticeable at this year’s CES in Las Vegas, where a new array of robots from competitors like LG Electronics Inc. are making their debut.
(Edited by : Srabastee Biswas)
