Retail store set to hire 1,000 robots as sales clerks by the end of the year

By the end of the year, Nestle’s Japan unit will have hired 1,000 robots as employees and tasked them with selling coffee capsules and home espresso machines at its stores across the country.

The bot being hired, a chatty humanoid called “Pepper,” is already at work at wireless giant SoftBank’s outlets. There, it’s tasked with simply making conversation with customers, a strategy that’s proven successful thus far for the Japanese mobile carrier, as managers have successfully collected several customer opinions to date that are based on the conversation the bot is having with them.

The four-foot-tall robot moves on rollers and has a tablet-esque device strapped to its chest to allow customers to answer questions or otherwise choose services. SoftBank president Masayoshi Son referred to Pepper as an “emotional” robot capable of understanding “70 to 80% of spontaneous conversation.”

For Nestle, though, the goal behind employing 1,000 Peppers is to increase sales. “From December, they will start selling coffee machines for us at big retail stores,” said Nestle Japan spokeswoman Miki Kano.

“We are sure that our customers will enjoy shopping and being entertained by robots.”

Pepper will officially go on sale this February. It will be priced at approximately $2,000 each. 

Via phys.org