According to a Reuters report, Japan’s Softbank’s “World’s First Humanoid Robot†Pepper will enter the overseas market this year. The first landing is in the Taiwan region. By then, Softbank will provide 100 units to Taiwan’s banks by leasing. And supermarkets. Pepper is only for leasing in Taiwan, the monthly rent is 26,888 thousand Taiwan dollars (about 5,584 yuan), temporarily not for the average consumer, so people can not buy the product.
Pepper's sales in Taiwan are handled by Foxcon’s own subsidiary Perobot, which was the foundry maker of the Pepper robot. Foxconn’s vice president Lu Fangming plans to hire 60 robots each month in the first half of 2017. The Bank of Taiwan’s First Financial Control, Taishin Financial Group’s banking division, Cathay Financial’s life insurance division and Taiwan’s telecom operator Asia Pacific Telecom are all expected to use Pepper in their business offices to provide basic services to consumers.
Carrefour will also use Pepper robots in two stores in Taiwan. After conducting a simple experiment to understand the interaction between customers and Pepper, it will decide whether to increase the amount of equipment purchased according to its performance.
As an arm-smart humanoid robot, it analyzes human speech, facial expressions, and body movements through natural language processing and computer vision techniques to communicate with people in verbal communication and physical contact. Therefore, it is very important to have an in-depth understanding of the interaction habits and rules between people and Pepper, especially with children.
