In Japan, trial sales of Pepper humanoid robots that can sense and respond to the emotions of others have started.
200 copies from a test batch will be distributed according to the principle of a lottery among designers and programmers. After taking into account their comments and fine-tuning the Android Pepper will go on sale. This will happen in February 2015.
The robot is equipped with a host of sensors that allow it to perceive the emotions of the people around it. The android's head has two color cameras and a 3D laser sensor built into it. At the top of the body is a gyroscope that monitors the position of the body. Another gyroscope, two ultrasonic sonars, three contact sensors and six lasers are located at the base of the robot.
His manipulators are made in the form of human hands with clearly defined anatomy and kinematics. Each arm also has touch sensors. They are needed not for doing work, but for gesturing.
On the "chest" of the robot is a 10-inch touchscreen display, connected to a computer running the NAOqiOS operating system - like the emotion recognition algorithm, it was developed by Aldebaran Robotics. The required applications run in a cloud computing environment with which the android communicates over Wi-Fi or Gigabit Ethernet.
The developers believe that the Pepper is the perfect device for serving store visitors. Having determined the emotional state of the interlocutor, the robot, using one of the algorithms at its disposal, finds out the subject of interest of the client and accompanies him to the place where the desired product is located, moving at a speed of three kilometers per hour.
If necessary, the robot can provide explanations and recommendations. By the time mass production begins, the developers plan to equip the androids with a self-learning function, which will allow the Pepper community to accumulate collaborative experiences in the cloud and avoid previous mistakes.
The robot is 1.2 meters tall and weighs 28 kilograms. The battery is charged for 12 hours of continuous operation. Pepper cost $ 1930.
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