Pepper (robot)

Pepper

The robot Pepper standing in a retail environment

Pepper
Inventor Aldebaran Robotics
Country France
Japan
Year of creation 2014 prototype
Type Humanoid
Purpose Technology demonstrator
Website www.aldebaran.com/en/a-robots/who-is-pepper

Pepper is a humanoid robot by Aldebaran Robotics and SoftBank designed with the ability to read emotions. It was introduced in a conference on 5 June 2014, and was showcased in Softbank mobile phone stores in Japan beginning the next day.[1][2] It was scheduled to be available in February 2015 at a base price of JPY 198,000 ($1,931) at Softbank Mobile stores.[3] Pepper's emotion comes from the ability to analyze expressions and voice tones.

Design

Pepper in Akihabara Japan, 2014.

The robot’s head has four microphones, two HD cameras (in the mouth and forehead), and a 3-D depth sensor (behind the eyes). There is a gyroscope in the torso and touch sensors in the head and hands. The mobile base has two sonars, six lasers, three bumper sensors, and a gyroscope.[4]

It is able to run the existing content in the app store designed for Aldebaran's other robot, Nao.[5]

Purpose

Pepper is not a functional robot for domestic use. Instead, Pepper is intended "to make people happy", enhance people's lives, facilitate relationships, have fun with people and connect people with the outside world.[6] Pepper's creators hope that independent developers will create new content and uses for Pepper.[7]

Research

Pepper is available as a research robot for schools, colleges and universities to teach programming and conduct research in to human-robot interactions. In the United Kingdom, it is available through Rapid Electronics Limited for this purpose.

Specifications

Pepper in a Darty shop in France at La Défense, 2016.
Pepper
Dimensions
  • Height: 1.20 metres (4 ft)
  • Depth: 425 millimetres (17 in)
  • Width: 485 millimetres (19 in)
Weight28 kilograms (62 lb)
BatteryLithium-ion battery
Capacity: 30.0Ah/795Wh
Operation time: approx. 12hrs (when used at shop)
Display10.1-inch touch display
HeadMic x 4, RGB camera x 2, 3D sensor x 1, Touch sensor x 3
ChestGyro sensor x 1
HandsTouch sensor x 2
LegsSonar sensor x 2, Laser sensor x 6, Bumper sensor x 3, Gyro sensor x 1
Moving partsDegrees of motion
Head (2°), Shoulder (2° L&R), Elbow (2 rotations L&R), Wrist (1° L&R), Hand with 5 fingers (1° L&R), Hip (2°), Knee (1°), Base (3°)
20 Motors
PlatformNAOqi OS
NetworkingWi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz)
Ethernet x1 (10/100/1000 base T)
Motion speedUp to 3 kilometres per hour (2 mph)
ClimbingUp to 1.5 centimetres (0.6 in)

See also

References

  1. Byford, Sam (5 June 2014). "SoftBank announces emotional robots to staff its stores and watch your baby – Pepper will go on sale for under $2,000 in February". theverge.com. Vox Media. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. Nagata, Kazuaki (5 June 2014). "SoftBank unveils 'historic' robot – Cloud-linked machine reads emotions, can 'learn,' company says". The Japan Times. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  3. Dignan, Larry (5 June 2014). "Softbank, Aldebaran launch Pepper, an emotional robot". zdnet.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  4. "SoftBank Mobile and Aldebaran unveil "Pepper"". aldebaran.com. Aldebaran Robotics, a division of SoftBank Group. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  5. Nash, Audrow. "Robots: Looney the Robot". http://www.robotspodcast.com. Retrieved 10 February 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  6. "Artificial Intelligence levels up with Domestic Robots". The Skinny. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  7. "FAQ About Pepper". Aldebaran. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
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External links

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