Pepper Customer Service Robot Debuts at Select U.S. Malls
Posted on December 29, 2016
Pepper is a customer service robot from Softbank Robotics. The robot is now making its debut at some malls and airports in the U.S. The locations include malls from the Westfield mall chain.
SFGate has a story about Pepper helping shoppers at the San Francisco Centre and Valley Fair malls. The robot greeted and entertained shoppers. Pepper was also programmed to help shoppers find specific stores in the mall.Pepper can analyze the tone of a person's voice as well as nonvocal cues like head position and posture. It has a 3D camera and 2 HD cameras to identify individual faces. It can move at a maximum speed of 3km/h (1.86 mph). It is a flexible robot capable of moving its head, arms and back.
Here is a video of Pepper at the Westfield mall in San Francisco. Softbank Robotics Vice President Steve Carlin sees robots like Pepper becoming more common in retail settings. Pepper was a hit with kids at the mall. There are also robots at the San Jose International Airport. Take a look: