Are Robots a Blessing or a Curse for Humans?

In June 2014, the Japanese firm SoftBank sold the first batch of its humanoid robot to consumers. Named Pepper, it is no utilitarian automaton built to do the dishes or laundry. Instead, Pepper reads human emotions and is meant to be an interactive companion.

Pepper is designed to be good company: telling jokes, playing games, giving advice or teaching a new subject, all based on the moods of the humans it interacts with. SoftBank is purposely keeping the price tag low at 198,000 yen (US$1,600) and can't keep up with the demand. An additional monthly fee of about $200 connects the house-bot to AI cloud technology, where the collective Pepper intelligence will evolve based on interactions with users. As new functionalities are developed, they will be downloadable to each individual bot.

Pepper is manufactured by Foxconn which, along with Alibaba, has invested US$118 million each in SoftBank Robotics Holdings in return for a 20-percent stake in the company. SoftBank retains 60 percent. The company estimates that by 2018, 27,000 Peppers will be sold or rented, primarily to ordinary consumers, and Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center expects annual revenue to reach NT$5 billion by 2020.

In an Apple-esque grand unveiling, SoftBank described Pepper as "a robot that behaves autonomously, powered by love." It looks like the idea of "robotic" being akin to "unthinking" or "unfeeling" has been tossed out the window.

商用機器人問世 對人類到底是福是禍？

2014 年 6 月，日本公司軟銀將第一批人型機器人賣給消費者。名為 Pepper 的這台機器人不是打造來洗碗或洗衣服的實用型機器人。相反的，Pepper 能察覺人類的情緒，用意就是要作為和人類互動的同伴。
Pepper 是設計來當好夥伴的：說笑話、玩遊戲、給建議或教授新題材，一切都取決於它的互動者的心情。軟銀刻意將標價放低在 198,000 日圓（1,600 美元），因此供不應求。每個月約兩百美元的額外費用讓這台家用機器人連結至人工智慧的雲端科技，在那裡，集體的 Pepper 智慧能依據和使用者的互動加以進化。只要有新功能開發，就可下載到每台機器人裡。
Pepper 是由富士康公司所製造，富士康與阿里巴巴分別投資了軟銀機器人控股公司 1.18 億美元，換得各自持有該公司 20% 的股份。軟銀保有 60% 股份。該公司預估到 2018 年時，將售出或租出 27,000 台 Pepper，租售對象主要是一般消費者，工研院則預估到 2020 時其年收益將達到新台幣 50 億元。
在一場類似蘋果的盛大發表會上，軟銀形容 Pepper 為「由愛啟動，能自主行動的機器人。」看來，認為「機器人」就是「無思維」或「無感」的這種想法已被摒棄了。