When was the first robot created? It is difficult to say. Apart from myths and legends, popular accounts of the first robot date back to the fourth century B.C., when the Greek mathematician Archytas of Tarentum designed a steam-propelled bird, “The Pigeon”. Since then, robots have evolved drastically and have come a long way. Several movies have contributed to making robots popular. The two droid robots from Star Trek — R2-D2 and C-3PO — were a rage when the series came out. The latest craze among techies, however, is the friendly humanoid robot called Pepper, developed by the French company Aldebaran.
All rounder
Pepper’s journey began around four years ago, when Masayoshi Son, founder and chairman of Japanese telecom giant SoftBank, decided to make robotics a part of his business empire. After evaluating the world’s top robotics companies, he chose to partner with Aldebaran, and the company shifted its focus to make Pepper for SoftBank.
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Described by Son as the “world's first personal robot with emotions”, Pepper provides a highly interactive experience and has been designed to be a companion robot. It is 1.5 meters tall and rolls around on a wheeled base. But his main functionality is his ability to cheer up people through various gestures. He can dance, tell jokes, play games, help you learn a new subject, and even read out the recipe while you cook. To carry out these functions, Pepper is equipped with an “emotion engine” which helps him figure out how a person is feeling based on facial expressions, tone of voice and speech. He can also play your favourite song if he senses that you’re feeling low. The company’s aim is to make Pepper learn and grow step-by-step so that one day, he could evolve to be a perfect companion at home.
To achieve this, Aldebaran plans to take the support of developers and creative minds from all over the world. To help drive the demand, the company has kept the pricing very competitive. Pepper has been made available to the public in Japan for under $2000. In collaboration with some other research laboratories, Aldebaran has also created a 140 cm humanoid research robot called Romeo which will assist the elderly. What a catch!
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