The Japanese Love Their New French Robot Named Pepper

July 14, 2015 – Japan is the country where automata in humanoid form are apart of daily life. Why the Japanese seem to take to these devices is a mystery to those outside the country? But not to the Japanese people who during their isolation from the rest of the world from the 17th to the 19th century developed Karakuri ningyo, a form of theater dedicated to mechanical puppets performing traditional Japanese myths and legends. Puppets like the tea robot appearing in the picture below were commonly seen in Japan and today are considered the forerunners to the humanoid and animal companion robots that the Japanese so love.

Just how much do the Japanese love their robot companions? When Sony decided to end its product line and technical support for Aibo, its robot dog, an outpouring of condemnation came from owners who have formed considerable attachment to these mechanical “pets.’ They even have established cemeteries when the robots finally die.

Japan today remains the most automated nation in the world with most of its robots found in industrial assembly plants. These are not humanoid robots like Honda’s Asimo, but are instead automata designed to perform a highly-repetitive assembly task.

But with Japan’s aging population the use of robots as domestic helpers has spurred the growth of humanoid automata, one of which is named Pepper. Released this June in Japan, the robot sold out its entire initial 1,000 units in a minute. A creation of Aldebaran, the French robotic company, Pepper features a child-like face with big eyes and a child-voice to match.

If you have never heard of Aldebaran, they are the creators of Nao (seen below), the 58-centimeter (just under 2 feet) humanoid robot that has become a popular educational automata since release in 2006.

Distributed by SoftBank, the mobile telecommunications company, through 74 of its outlet stores in Japan, Pepper, unlike Nao, is designed to live with humans and interact with them at close to eye level. Pepper reads human emotions such as joy, surprise, anger, doubt, and sadness. It analyzes facial expressions and body language as well as word usage. If it detects sadness it may offer to play a song you like to make you feel better. If you don’t want to hear the song then it learns that this is not the most effective way to respond to your mood. That’s because he robot’s software algorithms allow it to learn new things. And Aldebaran has invited developers and purchasers of Pepper to help the robot further evolve. Pepper also has built-in personality. It can express emotions and gestures, modulate its voice and even search online for new applications and functionality it believes would be important in its interaction with you and other family members.

Some technical specs:

• Weight about 28 kilograms (61 pounds)
• Height 120 centimeters (around 4 feet)
• 14-hour rechargeable battery
• 3D camera with depth perception of 3 meters (10 feet)
• 3 omni-directional wheels for mobility
• 17 anti-pinch articulations to create fluid and graceful movement
• a built-in LCD display screen with options such as reading books, tarot-card readings, radio and weather forecasts
• cost 200,000 Yen (approximately $1,600 US).

Early Pepper adopters have described the robot as attentive, charming, considerate and talkative. A Japanese journalist, Yuri Kageyama, when spending a half-day with Pepper before its commercial release states the robot “delivers cuteness like you’ve never seen.” He described how Pepper followed him around and looked into his face with its big eyes “like a puppy,” and engaged in small talk going from one topic to another while gesticulating with its fingers and hands. Sometimes Pepper didn’t interpret what was being said correctly, but for the most part “without any pretense about being real” the writer described Pepper as “fun.”

For the Japanese who have been enamored with cute automata since the 17th century it’s no wonder Pepper is an instant hit. Aldebaran is shipping more units this month to SoftBank and will have to ramp up production considerably as the Japanese take to this latest humanoid automata.

For the rest of us, we’ll have to wait. Right now Pepper is only available in Japan where personal robots may become as ubiquitous as computers and tablets in the next two decades.

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