Pepper, a humanoid robot created by SoftBank (SFTBF,SFTBY), will go on sale in Japan on June 20.
Pepper is priced at 198,000 yen, which is $1,600. SoftBank is actually selling the robot below its manufacturing price in an effort to move units. It hopes to make money back via an app store and a monthly service plan, reports Bloomberg.
SoftBank will also allow companies to rent Pepper for use and plans to release it in other areas of the world. Alibaba (BABA) and Foxconn will have a stake in the worldwide venture. 1,000 of the robots are ready to go on sale Saturday, Bloomberg notes.
Not everyone is excited about SoftBank’s Pepper robot. Professor Noel Sharkey, a robotics expert from the University of Sheffield, said that the company is over hyping the robot. He said it can’t lift much of anything and conversations with it are one-sided, reports BBC News.
