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A ROBOT CAPABLE of detecting human emotions sold out within the space of a minute after being made available in Japan.
The first 1,000 units of ‘Pepper’, a robot which costs 198,000 yen (€1,418), sold out after it was made available in Japan with more being planned for next month.
Unveiled last year, the four-foot robot, which is developed by robotics company Softbank, is able to recognise emotions from people like anger, joy and sadness.
It also uses voice recognition to analyse expressions, gestures and voice tones to help it learn and understand human interaction. It comes with a tablet to show its own emotions, and it develops a personality based on how people interact with it.
It’s doesn’t handle physical tasks. Instead, it’s designed to be a household companion.
“This robot has been created to make people happy to interact with. He’s an emotional robot, not a functional robot for domestic use with dishwasher or vacuum cleaner functionalities,” explains the FAQ from Aldebaran, one of Softbank’s partners.
Softbank plans to put another 1,000 units of Pepper on sale next month and plans to release it in other countries later this year.
The robot’s popularity is down to an aging population in Japan. In the latest report from the Japanese government, it found that 2.2 million households had at least one member who was 65 or older, making up 45% of all households. The percentage of men who are 65 and live alone has more than doubled in the past 30 years.
What purpose does it serve to let Micky swan around South America? Living the life of luxury while he preaches his Socialist Bullshit here in Ireland? Be gone you fool, we don’t need a president
They don’t call them Champagne Socialists for nothing.
‘Micky Swan’…. I shall be using that in conversation today.
Couldn’t agree more, if we want to send out trade missions then lets send out experienced business people, not this pointless twerp.
Business people! You must be joking. Look where they got us with their greed.
And this little pointless junket cost us how much?, more than some struggling families have to live on in a year. Time to cull these wasteful political positions. I’ve no doubt the President is a genuine and honest man, but we simply cannot afford the baggage while being picked clean by an inept political system stretching back decades.
What a waste of time and money
Agree. A total waste of money, and Joe Costello – Minister for Nothing, along for the ride, visiting a banana plant- how apt coming from a Banana Republic!
Glad to see the mentalists didn’t let this go. Head of State in foreign visit shocker! These things have been going on since the days of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Calm down, lads. This is part of his job.
Small man makes big impression.
Seeing as impeachment of presidents is in the news today , when will this president be impeached for failure to protect our Constitution?
Wake up Dail Eireann or loose your jobs !
It seems el Presidente has been on a global junket since being elected. I would be interested to know how much travelling he has done compared to previous presidents.
Just hope he’s not stopped at Dublin airport with a load of coke in his hair bun.
our president looks like Doc out of back to the future :)
An awful lot of angry red hands supporting Higgins and his junket. Genuine question, what would they have done if he had to fly back to nationalise debt as he did when at a gig in Rome some time back?
I wonder will he bring us back a parrot?
*La ultíma día* surely??
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