Samsung plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to make the connected home experience safer and more energy efficient, CEO Jong-Hee (JH) Han announced during last week’s CES in Las Vegas.

Han described how AI would enable connected technologies to improve people’s daily lives while always remaining nonintrusive and in the background. He focused on the role of AI in enhancing connected experiences that are both simple and useful.

“With the emergence of artificial intelligence, smarter, better experiences will redefine how we live,” Han said. “Samsung’s broad portfolio of powerful devices, along with the pursuit of open collaboration, will help bring AI and hyper-connectivity to all.”

Jonathan Gabrio, head of Samsung’s connected experience in the Americas, outlined the ways in which AI technology was transforming how visual display products and digital appliances were used.

Samsung has made major upgrades to Ballie, the rolling AI robot first introduced at CES 2020. Ballie has evolved into an AI companion capable of interacting with other smart devices to provide customised services such as taking care of bothersome tasks or projecting images and videos on walls so users can view information for their daily lives such as weather or other relevant content wherever they are.

To enhance kitchen and food experiences, Samsung unveiled the Bespoke 4-Door Flex refrigerator with AI Family Hub+. This refrigerator has an 81cm screen that features the new AI Vision Inside, which uses an internal camera to recognise up to 33 different food items that are put into and taken out of the refrigerator and suggests recipes using those ingredients.

Users can also set use-by dates on the screen, which then allows the refrigerator to send a notification when the set date draws near. By helping save money by reducing food waste, these AI features enable more environmentally conscious lifestyles.

The Anyplace Induction range takes AI connectivity a step further, as recipes saved on Samsung Food can be shared to the cooktop’s 18cm display so users can follow along while cooking.

Samsung’s AI technology extends to appliances beyond the kitchen. The Bespoke AI Laundry Combo – an all-in-one washer and dryer – features the AI Hub, which has an 18cm LCD that acts as an intuitive control centre for managing laundry, allowing users to enjoy a simple washing and drying experience. It personalises washing and drying by remembering users’ habits and using machine learning to suggest cycles.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s upcoming vacuum and mop robot cleaner, the Bespoke Jet Bot Combo, uses AI technology to provide a more convenient, effective cleaning experience. With AI object recognition upgraded from the previous robot cleaner line, it can distinguish more objects, as well as detect stains and spaces. It recognises the types of floor it encounters along with carpet length, and adjusts its settings accordingly.

Jaeyeon Jung, head of Samsung SmartThings (www.samsung.com/us/smartthings), highlighted ways in which AI technology is impacting the relationship between users and their devices, including a vision for SmartThings in which the more Samsung devices a householder uses, the smarter those devices become and the better they can understand and support daily life.

Spatial AI is the key to enabling this vision, by helping devices understand the living space and routines of the user, thus enabling more a personalised home management experience. SmartThings uses lidar on connected devices such as robot vacuums to create digital floor plans so users can easily check the status and location of all their devices.

In March, SmartThings will roll out the upgraded 3D map view for a more detailed experience on Samsung smartphones and TVs. A QR code will let users add family and friends to their SmartThings ecosystem, so every member of the household can create their own routines.

Using smart sensors and AI, SmartThings will be able to detect unusual circumstances, such as a fall, and send alerts to designated family and caregivers. Also, thanks to the Galaxy SmartTag2, users can track their pets’ activities and digitally store identifying information by attaching the tag to a collar or harness.

Another point Jung discussed was how the Bixby voice assistant is allowing smart homes to become more dynamic with its enhanced AI capabilities. Bixby can now automatically route commands to the most appropriate devices based on an understanding of the user’s location and activities.

Technologies such as multi device wakeup combined with a shared communication protocol enable Bixby to listen to commands with all the devices in a room but only perform the requested action on the most relevant device. So if a user is in the kitchen watching a recipe video on their Family Hub, and they can call out, “Hey, Bixby! Play music!”, music will play from the user’s smart speaker, but the recipe video will continue to play on the Family Hub, uninterrupted.

The TV, with the Samsung Daily+ service, will increasingly become a central hub for much of this smart home functionality, while also granting access to additional services. These include video calls through ConnecTime, video veterinary consultation services and Workout Tracker, through which workout data can be transferred to Samsung’s smart watches.

Samsung also announced the Now+ service, which displays useful information about users’ homes, such as the weather or a live security camera feed from a home security system without the TV even being turned on. As is the case with SmartThings, users can also access this information via voice command.