Meet with Japan's sweet robot Pepper
Yoshimoto Kogyos role in creating a real-life robot with a sense of humor.
With big, round, smiling eyes and a shirt and bow tie displayed on the screen on his chest, humanoid robot Pepper is ready to entertain his guests. Music begins to play, and Pepper shows off his moves to the 1960s hit song The Loco-Motion as a crowd of onlookers laughs with pleasure.
Pepper was created not for labor but to make people laugh and with Yoshimoto Kogyo, Japans biggest entertainment empire, working behind the scenes, that is a sure thing.
Touted as the worlds first proper affordable consumer robot, Pepper was jointly developed by Japans SoftBank Corp. and French robot maker Aldebaran Robotics, and is able to communicate with people and read their emotions. News of Peppers unveiling on June 5 spread quickly across Japan and the world.
On that same day, the staff at Yoshimoto Robotics Laboratory, Inc., a group company of Yoshimoto Kogyo, were also celebrating. Its no joke: Yoshimoto created a company specifically to develop software for robots, with applications that make Pepper perform dances and sketches for an audience.
Pepper was our new excursion into the unknown; our first time producing an inorganic substance instead of a human being, says Katsuaki Yamaji, director general of the laboratory. Ive been a manager for talents most of my career, but now I feel like I am a manager for a robot.
Yoshimotos creative team for Pepper consists of three people: Toshinari Nakano, the mastermind; and Masato Takahashi and Kyeong Heon Shin of Bye Bye World, a duo known for their entertaining gadgets and toys, who are in charge of controlling how Pepper moves.
Nakano, a television and radio writer, is the brains behind Yoshimotos applications for Pepper. He comes up with various ideas for robotic performances, and then Takahashi and Shin take care of the technical aspects, ranging from coming up with body gestures to suit each performance to adjusting the pitch of Peppers voice to make him sound cute or funny.
Source and Photo: The Japan Times
Pepper was created not for labor but to make people laugh and with Yoshimoto Kogyo, Japans biggest entertainment empire, working behind the scenes, that is a sure thing.
Touted as the worlds first proper affordable consumer robot, Pepper was jointly developed by Japans SoftBank Corp. and French robot maker Aldebaran Robotics, and is able to communicate with people and read their emotions. News of Peppers unveiling on June 5 spread quickly across Japan and the world.
On that same day, the staff at Yoshimoto Robotics Laboratory, Inc., a group company of Yoshimoto Kogyo, were also celebrating. Its no joke: Yoshimoto created a company specifically to develop software for robots, with applications that make Pepper perform dances and sketches for an audience.
Pepper was our new excursion into the unknown; our first time producing an inorganic substance instead of a human being, says Katsuaki Yamaji, director general of the laboratory. Ive been a manager for talents most of my career, but now I feel like I am a manager for a robot.
Yoshimotos creative team for Pepper consists of three people: Toshinari Nakano, the mastermind; and Masato Takahashi and Kyeong Heon Shin of Bye Bye World, a duo known for their entertaining gadgets and toys, who are in charge of controlling how Pepper moves.
Nakano, a television and radio writer, is the brains behind Yoshimotos applications for Pepper. He comes up with various ideas for robotic performances, and then Takahashi and Shin take care of the technical aspects, ranging from coming up with body gestures to suit each performance to adjusting the pitch of Peppers voice to make him sound cute or funny.
Source and Photo: The Japan Times
