Samsung Electronics' Home AI Companion Robot 'Ballie' To Run On Google Cloud's AI

Samsung Electronics announced on Wednesday that they would use Google Cloud's generative AI technology to power their at-home companion robot named 'Ballie'.

Ballie's primary function is to provide the user with home-related convenience such as security, cleaning, making calls, and even entertainment.

The circular, yellow robot has the ability to zoom around autonomously and connect to home appliances to undertake actions based on the owners commands, play videos via projectors and speakers on walls or the floor, and make phone and video calls.

The robot will use Google Cloud's AI to answer questions, respond to commands and provide suggestions, Samsung said in its web article.

Ballie can reportedly perform functions such as adjust lights, have personalised schedules and reminders as well as greet people who enter the house, according to the article.

“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,” said Yongjae Kim, executive vice president of the visual display business at Samsung Electronics.

Ballie uses Gemini's multimodal capabilities along with proprietary Samsung language models to process and understand a variety of inputs, including audio and voice, visual data from its camera and sensor data from its environment. This facilitates it to adapt its behaviors and responses in real-time.

"This expanded partnership with Samsung underscores our commitment to delivering reliable, enterprise-grade AI that drives lasting value for our customers – and their customers," Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud said.

The robot will be launching in the summer of 2025 in the US and South Korea.