For sale: Emotional robot that will show you love, but also anger and irritation if annoyed

The much publicized Pepper, an emotional robot created by technology company Softbank, will officially go on sale this weekend in Japan. 

The cost of owning one: 198,000 yen, or about $1,600 USD.

In the early stages, Softbank expects to have 1,000 Peppers available for purchase on the market each and every month. 

Pepper has no legs and moves on wheels. It has moving arms, can converse with humans, dance, sing, and perform a variety of other human-like functions.

Among those other functions: it can recognize emotions, and will respond with its own simulated responses, including joy when praised or stroked, or anger when irritated. 

The point of having these emotions available in a robot is to allow it to develop its own personality, if you will; this is dependent upon how the people around it interact with the device. Pepper has the ability to remember faces and is specially programmed to be happy when given attention, but will turn depressed when ignored. 

It can also recognize sadness in people, and will perform different actions in an attempt to cheer the individual up. 

Per Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, the 4-foot-tall, 60-pound robot is based on Son’s childhood memories of Astro Boy, an animated Japanese character that did not have a heart and was unable to understand why people cried. 

Son acknowledged that a robot with such humanistic traits isn’t for everyone, but that the world is clearly heading into a time of greater acceptance — after all, he points out, the world has already created robots that help in manufacturing. What is needs now, he explained, are robots capable of offering love. 

So, beyond the sort-of novelty show-and-tell that one might do when owning a Pepper, what are some of the real-world things this robot can provide. For one, it could be used to replay candid video taken of an individual over several years (even decades). This is because it is specially programmed to document moments when it senses elevated emotional arousal, including things like happiness and surprise. 

Son did promise the audience in attendance for the market launch announcement that privacy concerns have been dealt with (no other specifics were given).

He also assured those concerned with the robot’s ability to get angry that its grip is actually very weak; so much so that it is unable to fetch its owner a soft drink because it cannot hold onto a can / bottle. 

For those interested in taking Pepper out for a spin to see if it’s something they truly want around the house, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Softbank said it will make the bot available for rental for about 1,500 yen ($12 USD) an hour. He also mentioned retailers and companies that might be interested in this option, as the bots could sit in the office reception desks (Nestle Japan has already purchased, or “hired” 1,000 robots to work at its stores). 

Son said the artificial intelligence technology that powers Pepper’s responses is provided by IBM (who is by no means a stranger to AI). He also said his company is preparing for a global sales launch with partners Alibaba Group of China, and Foxconn of Taiwan. They will each take a 20% stake in Softbank’s robotics unit (valued at 29 billion yen, or $240 million US) to help with software and manufacturing.

Via Phys.org