Meet Pepper, the ‘Emotional’ Robot

Standing at a little over a foot tall and capable of recognising human emotions, personal robot Pepper is already proving a success in Japan. Within a minute of going on sale at the weekend, the first 1,000 units of the humanoid had been ordered.

Most robots so far have remained on testing and concept platforms or on stages at showcase events to show off a company’s technological ability but this Siri-like robot can be bought online and used at home right now. Just one tiny problem which that you may have to wait a long time as the first batch of 1000 Peppers was sold out in about a minute, and it’s only available in Japan.

Equipped with the latest voice and emotion recognition technology, Pepper is able to read people’s facial expressions and listen to their tone of voice to analyse how they’re feeling. Pepper doesn’t do what we might have expected robots to do. It won’t clean our homes like Josie from “The Jetsons,” nor is it a helpful all-purpose assistant that cooks our dinners or fixes the leak in the bathroom.

Instead, Pepper is a companion robot that talks to you and knows how you’re feeling by sensing joy, surprise, anger, doubt, and sadness through your facial expressions, body language, and the words you use. If it senses that you’re sad, for example, it’ll try to cheer you up by playing your favorite song or playing peekaboo.

Pepper also acts as a personal digital assistant like a Siri on wheels with hands and a cute robot face. It connects to the internet and retrieves information like weather, reminders, and incoming messages, and it answers your questions by speaking out loud or visually through the tablet attached to its chest.

SoftBank Robotics said that orders are no longer being taken and it would announce additional sales in July so maybe Pepper might make it’s way to us at Yuppie Gadgets. Watch this space!!!