Samsung must see that Ballie is a fantastic platform for creative designs

Ballie will be one of the more unique Samsung products to go on sale this year. It combines robotics, AI, and mobile experiences to great effect (hopefully). All these technologies are wrapped in a friendly-looking, ball-shaped exterior with wheels, which features a vertical oblong slit through which Ballie can project images on walls and floors and a small pop-up ‘turret' that will likely accommodate a LiDAR system. The Bespoke Jet Bot Combo AI robot vacuum has a similar component.

I am very much looking forward to seeing everything Ballie is capable of, especially now that we know it's integrated with Google Gemini. But speaking of what we've seen so far, I have to say I'm a little underwhelmed by the number of color choices, or lack thereof, Samsung seemingly has in store for Ballie buyers. We've only seen two so far.

To date, Ballie has shown up in two color options. There's yellow, which is by far the predominant color in Samsung's presentations, but we also took a photo of a white Ballie variant resting behind a glass enclosure at CES 2024. We've yet to see a white Ballie since.

By now, you all probably know where I'm going with this. I want Ballie to be available in a wide range of colors and designs. More than that, I wish Samsung could pull some strings and partner with entertainment industry giants to create more standout designs for Ballie.

I would love a Ballie with a paint scheme that resembles a Core from the Portal video game series, although I would certainly want Ballie to be a tad smarter than the Intelligence Dampening Core, Wheatley.

And how about the fact that Samsung's AI companion robot is an almost perfect fit for a Star Wars BB-8 paint scheme?

I can even see a football or basketball-themed Ballie working for sports fans. They would have to be careful not to mistake Ballie for an actual ball and kick or dribble it, though.

Alternatively, rather than having all these intricate paint schemes available through the e-shop landing page, perhaps Samsung could explore more creative designs and colors through user-replaceable panels or silicon wraps for Ballie.

Like FlipSuit cases for Galaxy phones, I can imagine Ballie silicon wraps with an NFC component that would change something about Ballie's behavior.

Once again, I may be dreaming too big when it comes to this little rolling robot for the smart home. But I see great potential for added value and entertainment for Ballie, and I can only hope that Samsung sees it, too.

Given Ballie's limited launch this summer, I am aware that the companion robot might not be sold in great enough quantities for expensive licensing deals with entertainment giants to make much sense from a revenue standpoint. But Samsung could at least start somewhere and release Ballie in more than one or two colors.

And if none of these ideas are possible for the first-generation Ballie, I hope that Samsung will at least take these details into consideration for a sequel. Assuming the first Ballie is successful enough to pave the way for a 2nd model, of course.