Meet CES 2024's Robots: LG's Q9 AI Agent and Samsung's Ballie

While we've covered some of the most engaging new tech to come from CES 2024, there's nothing like stumbling across a robot at the Consumer Electronics Show. And this year, two of the biggest brands there came out with robot concepts that managed to capture a lot of hearts and minds. Meanwhile, Ballie by Samsung and the Q9 AI Agent from LG are both intelligent smart robots designed to help you around the home. Both can act as personal assistants or companions, all while tackling tasks like monitoring and controlling your smart home. Learn more about each one below, keeping in mind that we have little information about whether they'll be coming to the market soon or not.

LG's robot concepts are well known for their bright eyes and black-and-white color scheme. The Q9 AI Agent from LG takes a step forward with two one-wheeled legs and a targeted purpose: it's all about connecting with the user and creating a zero-labor home. At CES 2024, LG's one-foot-tall robot showed off its movement. It's a kind of moving smart home hub, almost like a virtual assistant on wheels. It's able to explore your home, keeping an eye out for and solving problems. This robot can monitor your pet, read your emotions and react to them. And with help from artificial intelligence, it'll learn your own routines and behaviors and react to those in kind. Other things it can do? Connect to and switch on/off your smart home devices, analyze home temperature, give you notifications, send you live-feed video of pets, and more.

With a speaker, microphones and camera, this robot can truly be an AI agent designed for smart communication. It even says hello to you when you come home. We still don't know when (or if) the LG robot debuted at CES is coming to market, but it was a hit at the Las Vegas convention.

LG isn't the only big tech giant that showed off a robot at CES 2024. Samsung welcomed Ballie, a yellow, ball-shaped robot we weren't able to grab a pic of. This ball-shaped bud is back with some new improvements. While Ballie has taken the stage in the past, it has some exciting new improvements. Like a projector, something you might not expect from a robot. Ballie can project onto the floor, ceiling or wall, and navigate around your home. It can even adjust the intensity and angle of projection based on a few factors it detects itself. Maybe you're sitting close to a wall but move further away; Ballie will adjust projection intensity to account for the change.

While Samsung has been focusing on mobile projectors (like The Freestyle) this robot does more than project. Ballie is a smart home assistant as well just like the LG Q9 robot. It can do many of the same smart home tasks, like turning off lights, adjusting air conditioners, turning on laundry machines and more. Users can even use a typing chat function to ask Ballie to accomplish tasks. And just like the Q9, it'll greet you at the door when you come home.

The one thorn in the rose? Ballie itself was not at CES 2024. Instead, Samsung showed a video displaying all that this intelligent home robot could do. But we've seen Ballie roll onto the stage before at CES 2020, so we bet this won't be the last we see of Samsung's AI-driven bot.

For a throwback, check out our video below from 2020's initial Ballie rollout.

Whether you've fallen in love with LG's Q9 AI Agent or Ballie from Samsung, we will have to wait to learn more about if or when they're coming to market. But we can't wait to see what they'll be able to do by the time we see them next. Hoping to keep up with our CES 2024 coverage? Read up with our other articles here on the blog. Watch our YouTube video team as they cover the newest tech out on the floor, too!