Limited supply only in Japan, at $1,600 each.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Softbank is renowned for its humanoid robot designs, and when it put its newest offering, a companion robot called Pepper, on sale in Japan last month, the first 1,000 units sold out within one minute.
According to initial reviews, the bot is charming, considerate, offers advice and will “prattle on and on” making small talk.
According to Japanese journalist Yuri Kageyam, “The 121-centimetre (four-foot) tall white machine-on-wheels was disarmingly charming and definitely intriguing when I spent half a day with it.”
Available only in Japan so far for ¥198,000 ($1,600), any future sales are overseas are indeterminate.
Pepper is designed by French firm Aldebaran Robotics, a subsidiary of the mobile carrier Softbank and is hand-constructed by Foxconn in China.
“This is not some slapped together toy of a robot,” said “It’s the first convincing semblance of a step toward artificial intelligence fantasized in science fiction movies that’s affordable for the regular home,” Kageyam wrote for the Associated Press.
Equipped with artificial intelligence by Aldebaran, Pepper has what Softbank calls an emotional engine, meaning it reacts to what it interprets as anger or sorrow in humans around it by deciphering voice tones, facial expressions and language.
It also has programming that activates the equivalent of human emotions, such as getting nervous if a room suddenly goes dark, or elation when you pet its head and shower it with praise, according to the AP.
In December, Nescafe hired 1,000 Pepper robots to work across home appliance stores in Japan, where they help customers looking for a Nespresso coffee machine, reported the Daily Mail. Pepper robots are also used in Softbank stores as shop assistants.