Samsung squashes hopes that it will release its Ballie home robot
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I'm straining to figure out why it made sense to have a robot that follows you around for all these things. Even the projector and smart speaker shown seems a bit unnecessary (how often does that really come up?) At least, in terms of making it so much better than just grabbing the projector/speaker when you need it.
At first I thought it WAS a smart vacuum, but no, it's just another piece of technology that can break between you and the smart vacuum.
If people really wanted something to do the functions this thing would do, it seems there are much better ways.
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So… vaporware, probably too expensive, probably requires a high bandwidth subscriber connection to the OEM, probably over-engineered, won’t do the things the manufacturer claims. How many times have we heard this?
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Excellent point on the subscriber connection. Every time I turn my TV on, it connects to Samsung.
(Granted my apple tv box does the same, but at least I use it for streaming.)
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Why not put Grok on it? That way you can "gift" your enemies a real life Internet troll that will follow them around and make foul comments. The market for this will be huge!
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So AI data vacuum ad bot but now it follows me around physically?
Yeah, I'm all set.
Yeah, I'm all set.
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I wonder if the mostly spherical form factor, floor usage, and the natural actions of human feet "informed" them that if it fulfils the same requirements as a soccer ball...
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I could see a use where it follows around elderly folks in their homes and could sense a fall and/or act as an overpriced Life Alert. My SIL got a couple Alexa’s for my MIL so if she got in trouble she could call one of her daughters by voice. She fell in a room w/o an Alexa, couldn’t yell loud enough so she laid there.
….When she finally got up she “gave Alexa a piece of her mind for ignoring her.” Yep, she thinks she’s talking to a real person.
….When she finally got up she “gave Alexa a piece of her mind for ignoring her.” Yep, she thinks she’s talking to a real person.
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A smart watch would be more accurate for fall detection in that it actually has accelerometer data on the person's body.
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Dell backtracks on AI in general and Samsung pretty much cancels this, maybe there is hope after all.
Microslop is going to crud up Windows but at least we have Linux.
Microslop is going to crud up Windows but at least we have Linux.
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Having just witnessed a toddler trip over the robot vacuum when they (the toddler) wasn't paying attention, you'd have to make this thing insanely smart to know where to go to not make itself the trip hazard. Being a rolling microphone when someone has already fallen is great, unless it was the thing that made them fall.
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I'm shocked, shocked. Well, not that shocked.
What are the chances the 2025 demos were faked with telepresence?
What are the chances the 2025 demos were faked with telepresence?
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This is 100% okay for Samsung, but if a certain other company would have done this, it would be doomed, and there would be film at 11.
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I will at least give Samsung credit for realizing this wasn't working, rather than releasing half-baked garbage and then leaving customers with a paperweight six months later. In this brave new age of AI, releasing when it's ready is too seldom a consideration. How do I know? The fact that we are in this brave new age of AI was my first clue...
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Dell only stopped marketing AI. Their hardware will still have all the AI stuff in it .
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Assuming the person remembers to charge it every day. One of those life alert necklaces with a button to press may be more feasible due to longer battery life. But again dubious - I recall my grandparents had one and always had it hanging on a coat hook.
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Didn't know about this, but at least it seems useful for when you're carrying grocery bags in two hands in the rain. Or to help people with reduced mobility, to carry stuff around.
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Meanwhile, one may recall the Sony AIBO was so beloved, that their owners often treated them as proper spiritual beings.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85737zfBWXw
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85737zfBWXw
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Given that this has been around for 5 years already, and the speed at which "A.I." is changing, especially wrt spatial awareness*, Samsung have probably realised that no matter how fast they update it, it would be obsolete within months of release.
*See both Jensen's and Lisa's CES speeches from earlier this week. Robotics and stuff about learning about physical interactions featured in both.
*See both Jensen's and Lisa's CES speeches from earlier this week. Robotics and stuff about learning about physical interactions featured in both.
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abeinspace
Smack-Fu Master, in training
Seriously. The auto-vacuum summoner function is the only use case they described that would require something other than a couple of smart speakers in different rooms, and even then, its sensors would presumably need to have line of sight to the spill zone in order to catch it and be of use.
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So why not rename it "Ballie fold", like some of their Galaxy phones (albeit for another reason)?
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Roundish robot that rolls around on three wheels and has a projector?!?
R2D2, it is you!
R2D2, it is you!
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I think this is just the reality of personal robotics right now. It's hard to get a general purpose one to have a compelling feature set, a workable size & form factor and a price tag that's commercially viable. You have to make trade offs. This one was cute & toyetic, but its form factor was gonna be a limitation and it can't do enough to justify how expensive it would be to make it do those things.
Who knows if the calculus ever changes? Specialised robots are basically guaranteed to do any given task better. I would imagine that it's gonna take some as yet unknown breakthrough for us to reach a point where a general purpose robot is commercially viable, much like it took quite a lot of technical advancement and miniaturisation for personal electronics to converge into single devices (smartphones).
At any rate, I would expect a lot more personal specialised robots to be around before we start being able to buy actual R2-D2s. And I don't know about y'all, but I'm a tech enthusiast and I only just got one specialised personal robot. And it's just a video drone because I'm also a videographer.
Who knows if the calculus ever changes? Specialised robots are basically guaranteed to do any given task better. I would imagine that it's gonna take some as yet unknown breakthrough for us to reach a point where a general purpose robot is commercially viable, much like it took quite a lot of technical advancement and miniaturisation for personal electronics to converge into single devices (smartphones).
At any rate, I would expect a lot more personal specialised robots to be around before we start being able to buy actual R2-D2s. And I don't know about y'all, but I'm a tech enthusiast and I only just got one specialised personal robot. And it's just a video drone because I'm also a videographer.
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