According to The Verge, Samsung’s spherical Ballie robot is likely never coming to consumers, less than a year after its retail launch was announced. The bright yellow, soccer ball-sized robot, which features a built-in projector and Google Gemini, has been a staple at CES almost every year since its 2020 debut. But it was completely absent from CES 2026 earlier this year, a major red flag. In a statement to Bloomberg, Samsung called Ballie an “active innovation platform” that informs its work on smart home AI and privacy, but pointedly made no mention of a consumer release. This silence comes amid a flood of new AI robots at the show, like the LG CLOiD, where Ballie would have fit right in.
The Corporate Innovation Graveyard
Here’s the thing: we’ve seen this movie before. A company, especially a giant like Samsung, trots out a charming, futuristic concept at CES. It gets a ton of press, everyone oohs and aahs, and then… it quietly vanishes into what I call the corporate innovation graveyard. Calling something an “active innovation platform” is basically corporate-speak for “this was a cool R&D project that taught us some things, but we’re not actually going to mass-produce it.” The tech might live on in other products—maybe that spatial awareness ends up in a future smart TV or vacuum—but the physical Ballie as we know it? Probably dead.
The Harsh Reality of AI Robots
So why does this keep happening? Look, building a useful, affordable, and reliable consumer robot is incredibly hard. It’s not just about slapping an AI assistant into a cute shell. You’ve got insane hardware costs, battery life nightmares, complex navigation issues, and the eternal question: what does this thing actually do that my phone and smart speaker can’t? Ballie with its projector was always a bit of a niche pitch. And with the current AI gold rush, companies might be deciding it’s smarter to bake that intelligence into a hundred existing devices rather than bet the farm on a single, novel robot form factor. The PR buzz from the concept might have been worth the R&D cost alone.
Where Does This Leave Us?
Does this mean all home robots are doomed? Not necessarily. But it shows a clear split. You have the practical, single-purpose bots (vacuums, mops) that are selling by the millions. And then you have the ambitious, “generalist” companion bots that struggle to find a market. Samsung’s retreat with Ballie, especially after teasing a launch, suggests even the biggest players are getting cold feet about that second category. The future might belong to invisible AI in your walls and appliances, not a rolling ball that follows you around. It’s a bit sad, honestly. The dream of a helpful little robot sidekick is powerful. But the business case? That’s a much tougher nut to crack.
