{"id":287196,"date":"2021-06-29T10:56:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T07:56:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/japans-softbank-suspends-production-of-chatty-robot-pepper\/"},"modified":"2021-06-29T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T07:56:30","slug":"japans-softbank-suspends-production-of-chatty-robot-pepper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/japans-softbank-suspends-production-of-chatty-robot-pepper\/","title":{"rendered":"#Japan’s SoftBank suspends production of chatty robot Pepper"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Japan’s SoftBank suspends production of chatty robot Pepper<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n When Pepper was released in 2014, it was billed as a ‘new species’ of robot capable of recognising basic emotions.
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Japan’s SoftBank has suspended production of its humanoid robot Pepper, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday, seven years after the conglomerate unveiled the signature chatty white android to much fanfare.<\/p>\n

Pepper robots, used to greet people in stores and hotels in Japan and around the world, have become a symbol of SoftBank’s strategy of pouring resources into new technology<\/a> including artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

The pint-sized robot, which costs 198,000 yen ($1,790) plus rental fees, has also recently been used to ease the loneliness of coronavirus quarantine in Japanese hotels for patients with mild symptoms.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the firm’s robotics unit told AFP it was halting output owing to an inventory pile-up.<\/p>\n

“We are temporarily suspending production of Pepper but are ready to restart anytime depending on inventory situations,” she said. “Pepper has chiefly been a rental service and you don’t need a lot of new units.”<\/p>\n

The company does not disclose the number of gadgets it has sold or rented, the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

When Pepper was released in 2014, it was billed as a “new species” of robot capable of recognising basic emotions such as happ<\/a>iness and sadness by looking at people’s faces, while Softbank found Masayoshi Son hailed it as a symbol of the firm’s determination to lead in artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

The company was in discussions on potential job reductions with its European robotics unit, which is headquartered in Paris and employs about 330 people, the spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n

“We are negotiating about the cuts but it will take time to reach a deal in France,” she said, adding that the planned reduction was “part of our regular efforts to optimise our businesses” and was not directly linked to suspension of Pepper production.<\/p>\n

SoftBank Group, which has poured money into some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names and hottest new ventures, in May reported the best ever annual net profit for a Japanese company, reaping the rewards of a tech rally over the past year.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Japan robot owners warned off droid sex<\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Japan’s SoftBank suspends production of chatty robot Pepper (2021, June 29)
\n retrieved 29 June 2021
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-06-japan-softbank-production-chatty-robot.html<\/p>\n

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