Samsung Ballie

What it's for

Ballie was meant to be a home robot shaped like a rolling ball that follows its owner, looks through a camera, displays an image from a built-in projector and controls the smart home. That, at least, was the promise Samsung Electronics made from CES 2020 onward. The robot runs on Tizen OS with Gemini AI; according to SamMobile, not on Bixby.

The announced uses were in the home (homes): projecting an image, showing the camera feed, watching over the house while residents are away, and controlling devices, conceptually as a smart-home hub.

The problem is that Ballie never went on sale. In March 2026, according to a Forbes piece of 30 March, Samsung confirmed there is no plan for a commercial launch, and in our catalog it has the status “concept.” So this is not a robot you can use, but a story about how hard it is to move a home robot from a demo to a store shelf. By comparison, the actually sold Amazon Astro crossed that line; we write about the difference below.

Who it's for

For nobody who wants to buy something: the product cannot be acquired today. It is interesting for people following how big corporations approach home robotics, and for market analysts.

Not for users looking for a cleaning, care or education robot; those need products available in stores, for example from home robots. Do not rely on prices circulating online: the manufacturer never gave an official figure. Anyone worried about a camera in the home should read “Data Security: Robots with Cameras and the GDPR”.

Deployments

Ballie was not sold, so there are no customers or installations. In the home-robot category, real deployments belong to products such as the Amazon Astro or the Sony aibo ERS-1000; details in home robots.

Amazon Astro: Amazon's home robot, actually sold (though to a limited circle). A similar idea: a camera, driving around the home, smart-home control.

Enabot EBO SE: a small camera robot from Enabot for home patrol and play. Simpler, but available.

Loona Petbot: a pet robot for families with children; it does not control the home, but it has personality.

LG Q9: a home assistant from LG Electronics; also from the category of announcements and concepts.

Sony aibo ERS-1000: Sony's robot dog, a mature product with a long history.

Ballie was presented in January 2020 at CES. Samsung Electronics showed it in the following years as a preview of the intelligent home, but a commercial launch never took place. According to Forbes from March 2026, the company has no plan to bring it to market, and the robot was pulled from sale in the US without a prior launch. Six years from presentation to a confirmed absence of plans is one of the longest announcements in the history of consumer robotics.