For six years, Samsung’s Ballie has been one of the tech industry’s great “almost” products. The charming, rolling home robot kept popping up at CES, promised a lot and then vanished again.

But this week in Las Vegas, it didn’t even make a cameo.

Ballie was first unveiled at CES 2020 as a BB-8-like smart home companion designed to roam around your house, check on pets, control lights and appliances, and even project videos onto walls.

Over the years, Samsung repeatedly refreshed the concept and, at CES 2025, went as far as saying the robot was close to a commercial release, powered by Google’s Gemini AI.

That launch never happened. And at CES 2026, Ballie is nowhere to be seen.

Samsung Ballie robot

In a statement to Bloomberg, Samsung described Ballie not as an upcoming consumer product, but as an “active innovation platform” used internally.

The company said the project has helped shape its work on spatial awareness, context-driven experiences, ambient AI and privacy-by-design. These are ideas that have since flowed into products like robot vacuums and smart home devices.

Notably, Samsung didn’t say Ballie was cancelled. But it also didn’t say it’s still coming.

The shift in language strongly suggests the little yellow robot has been shelved, at least for now.

This is a big comedown for a device that has been teased almost every year since its debut.

At CES 2024 and 2025, Samsung showed off features including home monitoring, voice interaction, camera-based detection and built-in projection, and even announced plans to sell Ballie in the US and South Korea in 2025. Those timelines came and went.

Ballie’s absence is especially notable this year, with competitors like LG showcasing new robots on the CES show floor.

In a sea of fresh AI-powered gadgets, Samsung’s most famous robot concept has become a ghost.