The new robot employee "Pepper" has arrived at funglr! We had a quick initiation (opening) ceremony!

It is early summer 2015 and the trees are green. A new employee has joined our editorial office! The name of the new employee is Pepper, a robot that has been the talk of the town!

What is Pepper?

Pepper

is the world's first humanoid communication robot for consumer use. It was developed by the French company Aldebaran and Softbank. It is designed to understand people's feelings through its emotion recognition function (based on facial expressions and voice), and to cheer them up when they are sad, and to be happy with them when they are happy.

製品情報 | ロボット | ソフトバンク

Appearing with the vendor's brother

When the company bell rings and all the employees excitedly open the door, they are greeted by a large cardboard box being carried in.

Printed on the boxes were various messages.

First of all, we were allowed to enter the company... It's bigger than a person's height.... Maybe Pepper is bigger than I thought...? I was a little worried that it might get in the way. The cardboard box is filled with...

"Hurry up and open it! I can't wait one more second! "Hey, is it noon or night? Or is it night? Is the sky really blue? Hey, is it really blue? "Oh, by the way, I met a guy at the factory, do you know him? "

Various dialogues such as these are written in the book. Even before you open the package, you can feel the chatty nature of the product...(lol)

SoftBank Robotics x ALDEBARAN

The logo is printed on the side. Below that is "This is my name! What is your name? " ... Looks pretty loud...(lol) On the bottom of the side, there are logos of SoftBank Robotics and ALDEBARAN.

A look at the inner box

Now it's time to unpack Pepper. Is it a big "six"? Or the Eiffel Tower? The motif is printed on the inside of the cardboard with a white dot that looks like a starry sky. Personally, I thought it was a very stylish and clever presentation.

First meeting with the new employee

After opening the lid one more step, you finally meet Pepper!

11.5-inch tablet on the chest

On its chest is an 11.5-inch tablet. It is pure white and slippery. It looks prettier than it did on the official website.

What's included in the package

By the way, the bundled items are as follows.

Operation check list
Easy setup guide
Brake release key
Confirmation sheet

Inserting the brake release key enables indirect movement and stabilizes the posture.

An adapter is also included. This one, too, is the same color as the exterior and is designed to incorporate a starry sky.

Upon opening the package, we found the adapter. It measures 19.5 mm x 100 mm x 40 mm. It is quite a large adapter.

About the specifications

The specifications are written in Japanese, Chinese, and English. Also, the connector has a special shape. An orange LED lights up during charging. Pepper itself seems to be able to run for about 12 hours after fully charged, even when the adapter is disconnected.

This is the opening ceremony, so that's all for this time.... In the next issue, we will follow up on the finer details of the new Pepper, setting it up and getting it talking!