More Japanese stores employ ‘Pepper’, first robot with emotions

The public saw more human-like Pepper robots featured in stores in Japan, which their designers say can read and respond to a user's mood.

Pepper, who stands 1.2 meters tall and weighs about 28 kilograms, is equipped with an "emotional engine" and a cloud-based artificial intelligence system that allows it to analyze gestures, expressions and voice tones.

It was launched by Japanese internet company Softbank in 2014. The first batch of 1000 Pepper robots were sold out in one minute after they were available last year.

In stores today, people have found that "Pepper" sales assistants have taken the center stage in many appliance stores.

"On the eighth floor, you will find refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines in the white goods section. Though I am white, I am not a home appliance," said a Pepper, while making an introduction to the customers.

Though Pepper can conduct various tasks, its marked feature is its emotion-reading functions.

"It has more than 30 emotions and can simulate the process of dopamine and serotonin being produced by the human brain when it receives messages. Then it converts the chemical substances to the responding emotions and expresses them," said Kenichi Yoshida, head of Business Development Department at SoftBank Robotics Holdings Corp.

A single Pepper costs 19,800 yen now. Some point out that the company is still at a loss since its cost is higher than its sales price. However, the developers say they are paying more attention to its huge potential.

"Indeed we are not making a profit from the robots, but the price will fall gradually when they are used more widely or when every family owns a robot in the future. Then we will offer various value-added services and gain from that," said Yoshida.

More than 500 companies have begun to use Pepper robots so far and over 200 companies are developing apps for this type of robot.

Softbank wishes that such intelligent robots will be stationed wherever in need to service foreign visitors during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. — Reuters