Social Robotics from Samsung

Got some praises at CES.  Another attempt at social as well as helpful.  'A Ball-like moving device than can explore space'.  A silly gadget?   Have now seen maybe a dozen attempts at this.   This one also suggests that it can be a proactive security device.   This articles cuts at Alexa for 'killing the promise' of social robots, but if anything, Alexa and its competition have started the movement to social.   Its not as easy as it seems.  And expect that attempts like Balle, if they emerge, will be thrashed for doing real security, like communicating with real police.

(Later  I saw that Procter/Gillette  had acquired the firm 'Billie' which makes body care and razor products, this is NOT the same company that makes 'Ballie' covered here, but the naming might create some confusion. )

Samsung Ballie is a Social Robot That Might Actually Be Useful and Scalable  By Bret Kinsella in Voicebot.ai

It’s easy to look at Ballie, a cute little pastel-colored social robot demonstrated by Samsung last night at a CES keynote, and wonder if it is just another gadget with no better future than other social robots that have come and gone. However, this may just be different.

Smart speakers and smart displays have filled the role that was expected by many to be played by stationary robots such as Jibo. Radical simplification enabled smart speakers to provide most of the features anticipated for a social robot solution and then went beyond that template at as little as one-twentieth of the price. If you want to know what killed the promise of social robots, look no further than Amazon Alexa which created the smart speaker category.

A Robot that Follows You around and Patrols Your Home When you are Away.

Ballie will follow you around as demonstrated during the keynote by HS Kim, Samsung Consumer Electronics president, and CEO. “I love this guy. He even knows to give me a little space,” Kim said as Ballie followed him around the stage, speeding up and slowing down to keep an appropriate distance. Kim went on to say, “Samsung’s vision is more than a cute robot.” Instead, the company wants to introduce, “robots that you know, support you and take care of you, so you can take care of what really matters.” This turned out to be a broader theme for Samsung about making products that help people in their daily lives.   .... "