The entire stock of 1,000 Pepper emotional robots sold out within one minute of going on sale Saturday, according to the Wall Street Journal. SoftBank said it would announce future sales plans in July, but had previously announced that it would manufacture about 1,000 per month as it ramps up production in conjunction with China’s Alibaba Group Holding and Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group.
Alexander Martin in the Journal reports that Pepper costs ¥198,000 ($1,611), “…but to take full advantage of apps and other cloud-based functions, consumers need a service contract totaling nearly ¥25,000 a month over three years, including insurance.”
And for all that, Pepper’s developers report, “At the risk of disappointing you, he doesn’t clean, doesn’t cook, and doesn’t have super powers….”
What does Pepper do? “Through his numerous sensors, Pepper is able to detect your emotions and choose the ideal way to communicate with you accordingly.”
Read more about Pepper at Aldebaran, the SoftBank division that developed Pepper.
You can read the Wall Street Journal article here, and read my earlier post on Pepper, and find links to additional information on emotional robots, here.
