This robot can supposedly read your emotions


The creators of a robot named Pepper claim it can read your emotions. And at least 1,000 people in Japan were curious enough to find out, because Softbank's four-foot-tall humanoid sold out in one minute flat Saturday, UPI reports.
Iframe Code
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Pepper can learn, converse, interpret, and respond to a range of emotions (including joy and anger), and develop its own personality tailored to its owners, Newsweek reports.
One thousand robots will go on sale each month in Japan for the low, low price of about $1,600. It may go on sale overseas next year, but if you're lonely, you're probably better off forking over $5 for that cat from the shelter.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
-
A tall ship adventure in the Mediterranean
The Week Recommends Sailing aboard this schooner and exploring Portugal, Spain and Monaco is a 'magical' experience
-
How drone warfare works
The Explainer From Ukraine to Iran, it has become clear that unmanned aircraft are rapidly revolutionising modern warfare
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
Amazon's robotaxi looks to be Waymo's biggest competitor
In the Spotlight The company recently opened a new robotaxi production plant in California
-
Disney, Universal sue AI firm over 'plagiarism'
Speed Read The studios say that Midjourney copied characters from their most famous franchises
-
Secret AI experiment on Reddit accused of ethical violations
In the Spotlight Critics say the researchers flouted experimental ethics
-
Amazon launches 1st Kuiper internet satellites
Speed Read The battle of billionaires continues in space
-
Test flight of orbital rocket from Europe explodes
Speed Read Isar Aerospace conducted the first test flight of the Spectrum orbital rocket, which crashed after takeoff
-
Space-age living: The race for robot servants
Feature Meta and Apple compete to bring humanoid robots to market
-
Apple pledges $500B in US spending over 4 years
Speed Read This is a win for Trump, who has pushed to move manufacturing back to the US
-
Microsoft unveils quantum computing breakthrough
Speed Read Researchers say this advance could lead to faster and more powerful computers