The initial batch of Pepper robots developed by Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp sold out in one minute on the first day of sales in Japan.
The 1,000 units manufactured by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) that were available for purchase this month sold out in 60 seconds when online ordering opened at 10am on Saturday, Softbank Robotics Corp, the robotics joint venture formed by Softbank, Foxconn and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), said in a statement.
No more orders will be taken this month. The schedule for the next sale of the Peppers will be announced on Softbank’s Web site next month.
Photo: Bloomberg
The robots are priced at ¥198,000 (US$1,662) each.
Peppers have an emotion recognition function, and they can generate emotions autonomously by processing information from their cameras, touch sensors, accelerometer and other sensors within an “endocrine-type multi-layer neural network,” Softbank said.
Saturday’s sales came two days after Foxconn and Alibaba agreed that they would each invest ¥14.5 billion in Softbank Robotics, with the aim of developing the robotics industry on a worldwide scale.
Under the agreement, upon completion of the investments by Alibaba and Foxconn, Softbank is to own 60 percent of Softbank Robotics, while Alibaba and Foxconn are to each hold a 20 percent stake.
Some industry observers remain cautious about the business outlook for the robot.
“Pepper is still way overpriced for its functionality and does not present a compelling emotional purchase need, except for techies, early adopters and older Japanese women,” Lem Fugitt, a Japan-based robotics observer who runs Robots-Dreams.com, said in an e-mail to IDG News Service on Friday.
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