TOKYO — Japan's SoftBank said Thursday that its chatty humanoid robot Pepper would go on sale this weekend, as it announced a deal with China's biggest e-commerce website Alibaba and a Taiwanese manufacturer to work on robotics technology.
The deal came as local media said Alibaba was trying to attract Chinese consumers to the wise-cracking robot, which is already being used to sell coffee machines and greet customers at a Japanese bank.
Standing about four feet tall, the robot has a human-like face perched on top of a white plastic body, with rollers and what looks like a tablet computer on its chest.
Unveiled last year, Pepper — which its maker says can read human emotions — sells mobile phones at SoftBank's outlets, where it has been used to collect customers' opinions.
Engineers claim the robot's artificial intelligence can understand most conversations — in Japanese — and will beef up its language abilities by listening to what customers say.
Pepper goes on sale in robot-crazy Japan this weekend for 198,000 yen (about $1,600).
SoftBank released few details of the deal with Taiwan's Foxconn and Alibaba — in which it owns a one-third stake — beyond saying both would invest in the robotics unit with each taking a 20 percent share for a combined $237 million.
