Aldebaran and SoftBank Team Up To Create Pepper

 Robotics  

SoftBank and Aldebaran Robotics have announced the joint development of “Pepper”, the world’s first personal robot that can read emotions. Pepper, which incorporates variety of technologies and capabilities, will be commercially available in Japan next year for under $2000 USD.

Two years ago France's Aldebaran Robotics, makers of the popular research robot NAO, received a major financial boost from Japan's SoftBank.  Now, the fruits of this partnership have been realized in a new companion robot, called Pepper.

The two companies are saying that Pepper is first personal robot that can read emotions. The robot incorporates variety of technologies and capabilities.

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Pepper will be in the  SoftBank Omotesando and SoftBank Ginza stores this month, where people will be able to enjoy talking and interacting with the robot. SoftBank Mobile plans to subsequently station Pepper at more of its stores nationwide.

The name Pepper is claimed to refer to the robot's sparkling personality, and for the fact that it can be pronounced easily in multiple languages.

"We are pleased to offer the world's first personal robot that reads emotions, Pepper, which we developed with Aldebaran."

This robot has been created to make people happy to interact with. It is an emotional robot, not a functional robot, so don't expect it to do the dishes or vacuum the floor. Pepper will help people grow, enhance their life, facilitate relationship, he will have fun with them, give some services and connect them with the outside world, according to it's creators.

The humanoid robot is 4 feet tall, weighs just over 60 pounds and has 20 motors powering movements in its head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, fingers, hips, knees and more. It also has a 10.1-inch touch display on the front, and synchronizes with a cloud-based database for access to information.

Pepper comes with a tablet on it's chest for enhanced communication and interaction. "We do not aim at duplicating li[f]e and humans," claimes Aldebaran. Bringing additional capacities which will facilitate interaction is the main application of the tablet.

Pepper is able to speak English, French, Japanese and Spanish. In the next few months, new languages will be available on the Aldebaran Store.

The robot, will be commercially available in Japan from SoftBank Mobile next February for a base price of JPY 198,000—under $2000 USD. No word yet on when, or if, Pepper will be available elsewhere.

Maisonnier and Son With Pepper

Masayoshi Son, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank Corp., commented in a press release, “Since foundation, we have followed our corporate philosophy of ‘Information Revolution – Happiness for everyone.’ To realize our vision, we have made a new entry into the robot business with the aim of developing affectionate robots that make people smile. Using emotion engines and Cloud AI, which evolves with collective wisdom, we're making this happen. As our first entry, we are pleased to offer the world's first personal robot that reads emotions, Pepper, which we developed with Aldebaran."

Aldebaran CEO Bruno Maisonnier claims this will be the start of a robot revolution that rivals the rollout of the PC and smartphone. According to him "With Pepper, the future begins today."




SOURCE  SoftBank and Aldebaran Robotics

By 33rd Square

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