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Roberts with "heartbeat" to go on sale in Japan

Xinhua, June 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

Japan's telecom and internet giant Softbank said Thursday that it would sell the human-like robert Pepper which has a "heart" inside to the public on Saturday.

Since being released in June last year, the new Pepper has dramatically improved in intelligence and emotion. During Softbank 's press conference in Chiba near Tokyo, Pepper danced to the music, sang a song and talked with the celebrities with amazing ease.

With a "heart" installed, Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank Corp. said that Pepper which stands 121 centimeters high and weighs 28 kilograms could not only read emotions, but respond to human beings with joy, anger or depression as well.

Son said that Pepper, supposed to offer companionship and "love " to human beings, could develop its own personalities depending how people contact with it. According to Son, the emotional roberts would hit the stores this Saturday with 1,000 units available in Japan at the price of 198,000 yen (about 1610 U.S. dollars).

Also on Thursday, e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and Taiwan- based Foxconn Technology signed an agreement with Softbank, promising to jointly promote the Pepper robert in the global market.

Alibaba's founder Jack Ma said at the press conference that by putting a heart into a machine, people start to learn about the inside world of human beings. "I'm excited about joining hands with Softbank and Foxconn."

According to the agreement, Alibaba and Foxconn will each invest in 14.5 billion yen (117.45 million U.S. dollars) and hold a 20 percent stake of the robotics company under Softbank.

Ma pointed out that in the next 30 years, the Robert business and industry would grow rapidly. "No matter you like it or not, robert is going to be a part of our lives. It'll be everywhere," Ma said. Endi