Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), the nation’s No. 2 telecom, yesterday said it plans to lease up to 10 Pepper humanoid robots next year to provide in-store services at its flagship stores.
The company yesterday became the latest local firm to use the robot when it started using it in one of its stores in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) to assist in in-store telecom services.
Working as a brand ambassador, Pepper is to welcome guests and interact with people through a tablet computer attached to its chest, Taiwan Mobile said.
The robot will also help people choose telecom service plans and recommend digital content purchases, such as movies, music and ebooks, it said.
“The cooperation between Taiwan Mobile and Hon Hai [Precision Industry Co] (鴻海精密) has been in the spotlight for a while and a Pepper robot finally arrived at a Taiwan Mobile store in the fourth quarter,” Taiwan Mobile chief business officer Jeff Ku (谷元宏) said.
Pepper was developed by the robotics arm of Japanese conglomerate Softbank and is assembled by Hon Hai, the flagship unit of Hon Hai Technology Group (鴻海集團).
In addition to leasing the robots, Taiwan Mobile and Hon Hai “do not rule out the possibility of deepening their partnerships in the Internet-of-Things and ‘smart’ living areas,” Ku said, without elaborating.
Pepper robots are being used by several local firms, including First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽) and hypermarket chain operator Carrefour Taiwan (家樂福).
Perobot Co Ltd (沛博科技), the local sales distributor and after-sales service provider for Pepper, said the company has received 110 leasing orders for the robot and is on track to finalize 200 orders this year as planned.
Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信), which helps market Pepper, said last week it has introduced 25 Peppers at its outlets.
Asia Pacific, a telecom unit of Hon Hai, plans to pitch the robot to more sectors from banking, retailing to tourism, transportation and healthcare areas next year.
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