The future will have lots of robots, ranging from the dangerous to the productive, and some meant to be your friends. Scott Budman reports.
It dances, it shops, it engages you in conversation.
It’s Pepper, and it’s a robot you have to see (and listen to) to believe.
We met Pepper at Santa Clara’s Internet of Things Convention, and she was the unquestioned star, attracting young and old fans like a rock star.
“It mimics us,” says Softbank’s GM of Robotics Steve Carlin. “It creates empathy with its arms and gesticulations.”
And those gesticulations are smooth and believable. They (along with Pepper’s impressive vocabulary) are why this robot is coming to a store near you. It’s comfortable to be around the 4-foot robot. Not like a used car salesman, but more like a friend.
