Samsung's Ballie AI robot companion will have Gemini onboard when it launches this summer in the US and Korea

• Samsung's Ballie AI-infused robot will launch this summer in the US and Korea
• It'll now feature Gemini thanks to a partnership between Samsung and Google Cloud
• Samsung says it'll make Ballie more helpful and allow for natural conversations

Samsung finally spilled the beans on Ballie – its bright yellow AI-infused robot companion – at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, and now just four months later, we’re learning more about the forthcoming product feature set.

In a partnership with Google Cloud, Samsung announced that just like the deep integration of Google Gemini on the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S25 series, the two technology giants are bringing the AI assistant to Ballie. Ballie will feature Gemini and other generative AI technology from Google Cloud and Samsung’s language models.

We already know that Samsung’s Ballie is voice-activated with four far-field microphones on board. At CES 2025, I saw a demo of someone saying, “Hey Ballie,” to control smart home devices and spill information on places in Las Vegas.

Now, though, Samsung and Google Cloud aim to make interacting with Ballie even more natural and for the robot companion to be even more helpful. In a shared release, it’s teased that you could tell the robot, “I feel tired today,” and have it serve up ways to improve energy levels or if you have other Samsung-connected wearables to suggest monitoring sleep patterns. Pretty neat and clearly the promise of weaving Samsung’s tech with Gemini.

You can also work with Ballie to build out your personal style and ask the robot how you look. Ballie will then use its onboard cameras to provide style recommendations. Here it’s likely a similar technology to Gemini Live crossed with Google Lens for a multi-modal experience to see what styles could match with whatever you’re wearing.

As a reminder, Samsung’s Ballie has a ton of tech built-in, including a front Full HD triple-laser projector that can cast on surfaces near and far, a 4K camera on the front, a 2K camera on the back, a LiDAR sensor stack, Time of Flight (ToF) sensor, speakers, and the microphones as mentioned above.

Of course, it also has wheels to move around your home and even follow you. When the onboard battery depletes, it can return to its charging dock, much like a robot vacuum.

Ballie should arrive in the US and Korea this summer

Further, Samsung’s once again reaffirming – and recommitting to – the promised launch of later in 2025. Thankfully, it’s getting more specific, confirming that Ballie will launch in the United States and Korea this Summer. It’s for a completely unknown price, but Samsung has set up a page to register your information that, quite interestingly, asks for city and state. That leads me to think that Ballie might be rolled out in a trial for specific states, potentially linked to Samsung’s SmartThings cities, or just that supplies will be limited at first.

Regardless, I’m still eager as ever to see Ballie formally launch and to put it through its paces. And for those keeping track, Samsung’s news today is a very-fast follow to the robot’s appearance at CES. Ballie was first announced in 2020, returned in 2024 with a promise to launch that same year, and then shown off again in January 2025 with a promise launch later this year.

Considering this is the most Samsung’s told us about Ballie, I’m leading more faith and the company’s showing more proof that Ballie will indeed arrive, and I can’t wait. You can sign-up to mark your interest in Ballie on Samsung’s site here.

Of course, stick with TechRadar for the latest on Ballie, and you can read our first look at the robot from CES 2025 and our chat with Samsung’s Head of Product, Home Entertainment, Lydia Cho here. Remember, she said, “We just think it’s the perfect companion for you to meet all your needs,” and Gemini could help it.

I just personally think it’s now the second cutest robot compared to Disney’s BDX Droids. Those are the clear winners.

@techradar

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