Samsung indefinitely shelves robot Ballie

Samsung's bright yellow, spherical robot, aptly named Ballie, was supposed to be launched as a household assistant starting in summer 2025. Now, the South Korean manufacturer appears to have definitively scrapped the project, which has been repeatedly presented at CES for years and was considered a trade show highlight.

Six years after the first version was introduced and the company promised at CES 2025 to launch the robot in the first half of 2025, the company has changed Ballie's direction, according to a report by the news agency Bloomberg.

Ballie becomes an “innovation platform”

Citing an email from a company spokesperson, Bloomberg reports that Ballie has been “indefinitely shelved” internally. “After several years of practical testing, it continues to provide valuable insights for developing spatially aware, context-aware experiences through Samsung, particularly in areas such as smart home intelligence, ambient AI, and privacy by design,” the statement further reads.

Moreover, Samsung no longer refers to the AI robot as a household helper but as an “active innovation platform.”

Spherical robot with AI, wheels, and projector

Most recently, Ballie was intended to be usable as a personal assistant in the home, capable of performing various tasks. Ballie was equipped with two cameras: a 4K camera on the front and a 2K camera on the back. It also featured various sensors, such as a Lidar module (light detection and ranging), allowing the robot to navigate autonomously in household environments and making it suitable for surveillance tasks in homes, for example. It reports anomalies, including images, via an app on a mobile phone. Furthermore, Ballie moved on three wheels, meaning it was not designed for use across multiple floors unless users carried it to the next level themselves.

Another feature of Ballie is an integrated laser projector that can project videos, photos, and information onto walls and floors. The projection unit is integrated movably. Ballie is also supposed to display buttons on the floor that trigger functions by foot pressure. In April 2025, Samsung announced that the AI spherical robot would be equipped with Google Gemini instead of Bixby.

At CES 2026, Ballie was conspicuously absent, although various manufacturers used the tech show to present their robots, including for the home. LG's humanoid robot CLOiD is said to be able to cook, wash clothes, and fold them; however, LG has so far not announced a price or release date, which in turn is reminiscent of Ballie's fate.

(afl)