Technabob has written about Pepper before, and the words published were the mixture of disgust and fear that only the uncanny valley and faux-telepathic robots can inspire. The basic premise is that this eerie, white robot’s soulless and vacant black eyes are always studying you and reading for signs of weakness your emotions (for signs of weakness). With this information, Pepper is better able to send out orders to begin Phase II of operations assist you in your day to day tasks.
After a limited release in Japan for 198,000 yen (~$1,900 USD), the company will set a price for US sale. Expect to see a small white assassin personal assistant silently entering your crawlspace helping your wealthy and eccentric friends within the next 12 months. Fumihide Tomizawa, chief executive officer of SoftBank Robotics, says “I won’t be surprised if Pepper sales will be half to business and half to consumers.” We guarantee that there are a few weird sushi joints on the West coast that are already planning to lay off all of their waiters.
Mostly, however, we just want to make Pepper’s chest-tablet display Krang, from the old school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
[via Bloomberg]
