Meet Ballie, Samsung’s rolling life companion robot

Today at CES, Samsung announced Ballie, a life companion robot that is, well, a ball.

Ballie is a robot that recognizes its owner and follows them around but still keeps a distance to prevent intrusion of space. More than just a life companion, this robot can perform various tasks; it can work as a webcam, a remote controller, and even a fitness assistant.

During the stage demo, CEO Hyun Suk Kim called Ballie on stage and did a short presentation with the robot. Ballie followed him around while keeping a distance and approached when he said, “Come”. There was also a video demonstration that shows Ballie’s interaction with the family dog, where Ballie made the robot vacuum to start cleaning up when the dog made a mess.

Still, there’s very little information regarding the device. We don’t know the complete list of tasks it can perform and its hardware specs. This is pretty much still a prototype, meaning that there’s no knowing when it’ll reach the market.