Interest
SoftBank Has Its Own Humanoid Robot
posted on by Bamboo Dong
Meet Pepper. It dances, it talks, it raps, it understands 4,500 Japanese words, and it can understand human emotions. Best of all, it'll only cost about $1900, making it one of the most practically affordable robots for the general public.
Initially developed by French robotics company Aldebaran, the technology was acquired by Japanese telecom giant SoftBank and presented at a press conference on Thursday. For those wanting to get an up-close look at Pepper, there will be robots at two SoftBank stores starting tomorrow, acting as customer service representatives. But, with an estimated public sale date of February 2015, you won't have long to wait to get a Pepper of your own.
While Pepper already comes pre-loaded with the ability to communicate through speech and body language, and read its owner's emotions and tone of voice, users will be able to install apps and upgrade the unit, giving it the capacity to learn.
And here it is dropping some beats and having some fun with the audience.
The company envisions the units acting as nurses, babysitter, emergency medical workers, or even just companions.
Source: Reuters, Engadget, Hachima Kikou
