{"id":55866,"date":"2015-07-15T18:39:20","date_gmt":"2015-07-15T10:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=55866"},"modified":"2015-07-15T18:39:20","modified_gmt":"2015-07-15T10:39:20","slug":"better-than-friends-this-robot-gives-undivided-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/07\/15\/better-than-friends-this-robot-gives-undivided-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Better than friends? This robot gives undivided attention"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Pepper,<\/a>
Pepper, the new companion robot from Tokyo-based technology company Softbank Corp.
(Screengrab from Softbank Corp.’s video during the press event on consumer sales launch of Pepper)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO \u2013 I\u2019m Japanese and so I\u2019m a sucker for cute things, like manga, quirky figurines and mascot characters. And Pepper, the new companion robot from Tokyo-based technology company Softbank Corp., delivers cuteness like you’ve never seen.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s striking is the absolutely ardent attention it gives you \u2013 frankly a lot better than some real-life people.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look a bit thin,\u201d it coos in a soft childlike voice, free of any rigid mechanical accent. \u201cYou should watch what you eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 121-centimeter (four-foot) tall white machine-on-wheels was disarmingly charming and definitely intriguing when I spent half a day with it, ahead of its delivery to its first customers later this month.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s another matter entirely whether it\u2019s worth the price tag of 198,000 yen ($1,600), plus the maintenance and insurance costs that ownership entails, adding up to some 1.2 million yen ($10,000) for an estimated three-year lifespan.<\/p>\n

Only available in Japan so far, overseas sales are undecided. The programming it has now caters to Japanese tastes. A U.S. version will obviously have to be quite different.<\/p>\n

Pepper has cameras, lasers and infrared in its hairless head so it can detect human faces. Whatever direction you move, its cocked head will also move, intently looking into your face with its big eyes, like a puppy. Except this pet can talk.<\/p>\n

As long as you don\u2019t walk too far from it, removing yourself from its attention, Pepper will prattle on and on, switching from one small talk topic to another, gesticulating at times with its five-fingered soft hands for effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want to play a quiz game? What animal goes like this: bow wow,\u201d it might say. It will tell you \u201ccat\u201d is the wrong answer.<\/p>\n

And then it will ask, \u201cWhat did you have for dinner?\u201d If you say, \u201cTempura,\u201d it has enough voice recognition to decipher that and will reply: \u201cOh, Japanese.\u201d I tried answering, \u201cSteak,\u201d another time. It said, \u201cOh, Western.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, the conversations do sometimes repeat themselves, but so does human dialogue.<\/p>\n

The robot is equipped with enough of a repertoire to avoid easy boredom. That repertoire is constantly being updated through a WiFi connection.<\/p>\n

Each Pepper is hand-made by Foxconn in China, limiting supplies to 1,000 a month. The first batch for July sold out in a minute.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s attracting regular technology fans but also a kindergarten, a cafe and people who\u2019re buying it for their elderly parents.<\/p>\n

The kind of patient interaction Pepper excels at is recommended for people with dementia. So Pepper might come to the rescue of stressed out families.<\/p>\n

Equipped with artificial intelligence by Aldebaran of France, Pepper has what Softbank calls an emotional engine, meaning it reacts to what it interprets as anger or sorrow in humans around it by deciphering voice tones, facial expressions and language.<\/p>\n

It also has programming that sets off the equivalent of its own human emotions, such as getting nervous if a room suddenly goes dark, or elation when you pet its head and shower it with praise, such as: \u201cYou are the best-looking robot I have ever seen. I love you. You’re the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am going to cry for joy,\u201d it says, throwing its arms up in the air.<\/p>\n

On the flat-panel display attached to its chest, it offers boxes to tap for various tasks, such as reading storybooks, giving a tarot-card reading, playing the radio, working as a drum machine and relaying the weather forecast.<\/p>\n

It has some cool dance moves as well. One is shaking its body in a rubbery way. Another is doing elegant hand gestures as it plays Tchaikovsky\u2019s \u201cNutcracker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owners may be tempted to give the thing a wig or dress it up. That\u2019s not recommended as it can overheat. It keeps going for 10 to 12 hours on a single charge. It charges from a regular household outlet.<\/p>\n

Softbank offers a basic software application kit so even a child can create applications for Pepper. Softbank has an in-house standard for violence, pornography and other abuse for its own applications.<\/p>\n

This is not some slapped together toy of a robot. It\u2019s the first convincing semblance of a step toward artificial intelligence fantasized in science fiction movies that’s affordable for the regular home.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t for everyone. You have to have an open mind.<\/p>\n

The way it\u2019s designed, Pepper is basically about human relationships.<\/p>\n

It could be the life of a party. It could be a dream-come-true robot friend for a child.<\/p>\n

For parents, it can keep track of a baby growing up with photos Pepper takes over the years and other data kept in cloud storage. Pepper’s record could also hold special meaning, if its owner were to die.<\/p>\n

Pepper is imperfect. But so are human beings.<\/p>\n

It tried to guess how tall I was and said 163 centimeters (five foot four), 10 centimeters (four inches) taller than I am. I said I wanted to go to \u201cHawaii,\u201d but it misheard that as not going anywhere, perhaps because the Japanese for none, or \u201cnai,\u201d rhymes with Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Of course, there is no illusion it\u2019s human. But just as a movie, a video game or a good book can be fascinating, without any pretense about being real, Pepper is fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s grow and get better together,\u201d it says with bubbly emotion in a poignant conversational moment.<\/p>\n

Even when it isn\u2019t talking and standing still, it appears to be breathing, inhaling and exhaling softly. Its arms move ever so slightly.<\/p>\n

And that is preciously cute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TOKYO \u2013 I\u2019m Japanese and so I\u2019m a sucker for cute things, like manga, quirky figurines and mascot characters. And …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":55869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-55866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-original","mauthors-yuri-kageyama","mauthors-the-associated-press1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}