SoftBank to Start Selling Personal Robots Next Year

Japan’s SoftBank Corp has said it will start shipping human-like robots for personal use by Februrary of 2015, named Pepper. The prototype is deploying this week and were developed in collaboration with the French company Aldebaran.

Pepper, according to SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, will be capable of learning and expressing emotions and serve as babysitters, nurses, emergency medical workers or friends. “People describe others as being robots because they have no emotions, no heart. For the first time in human history, we’re giving a robot a heart, emotions,” Son said.

Though SoftBank is not the only company in the robotic growth market. Japanese technology manufacturers including Panasonic showcased robotic suits for arduous manual tasks. Honda has been developing household robots for more than a decade. The overall robotics market in Japan was worth $8.38 billion in 2012.

Pepper will sell for 198,000 yen, or $1,900 USD. View the prototype in the video:

For more information, visit Aldebaran.