Pepper AI to arrive in Korea next month
LG Uplus to combine Korean-speaking AI, Japanese robot
We have decided to introduce Pepper first in areas with specific purposes and profit models.
Pepper, the world’s first humanoid robot that can read human emotions, will be introduced in Korea this month, according to LG Uplus, Sunday.
The telecom company said it will test the artificial intelligence (AI) robot at its major stores as well as its partnered businesses including Woori Bank, Kyobo Book Centre, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Lotte Department Store and E-mart stores for a year.
LG Uplus and Japan’s SoftBank, provider of the Pepper robots, will share the costs for this test.
“We have decided to introduce Pepper first in areas with specific purposes and profit models,” said Song Dae-won, vice president of LG Uplus’ AI device unit.
“Participation of many enterprises that represent diverse industries in this test will boost the applicability of the services.”
Pepper has been developed by SoftBank Robotics, a unit of Japan’s SoftBank Group. It was first unveiled in June 2014 and officially released two years later.
The robot is 1.2 meters tall and weighs 28 kilograms. It has cameras and sensors that help it read diverse signs of human emotions.
Pepper was originally developed as a robotic platform, not as a complete functional robot. For this reason, LG Uplus combined its own AI system to the robots it will test in Korea.
LG Uplus has cooperated with its sister company LG CNS to develop the Korean language-processing technology.
The system is capable of conversing with humans to greet them and answer inquiries such as on the weather and location, according to the telecom company.
LG Uplus’ introduction of the new robot is expected to intensify the competition for the AI service mar- ket here with SK Telecom and KT, as they have already released voice-recognizing digital assistant services, SK’s NUGU and KT’s GiGA Genie.
LG Uplus showed a contrast with SK Telecom and KT in its early AI service business strategy as it is focused on the business-to-business (B2B) sector.
SK Telecom and KT both started their AI service business by providing voice-recognizing speakers for consumers.
Despite differences in types and purposes, Korea’s AI service market has already seen competition among multiple providers ranging from SK Telecom and KT to internet service providers such as Naver and Kakao.
Against this backdrop, LG Uplus will seek to establish its foothold in the AI service market first through the B2B sector before entering the business-to-consumer sector later this year.
LG Uplus started operating Pepper last week at its flagship store in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, to provide service information and recommendations on handsets.
Like the telecom company, its partners also introduced additional features to Pepper to fit for the services they provide.
Lotte Department Store was the first to debut the robots. It showcased them at its headquarters store in central Seoul to welcome customers and entertain them with dances.
Lotte plans to tap into Pepper’s multilingual support for English, Chinese and Japanese to use the robots for foreign customer reception.
Last week, Woori Bank also started using the robots at its headquarters office in central Seoul and finance centers in Myeong-dong and Yeouido to provide customers with guidance on its services and events.
Kyobo Book Centre has set up a Pepper robot at its bookstore in Hapjeong, western Seoul, to welcome customers and recommend books to them.
At Gachon University Gil Medical Center, the robot was also introduced last week to check patients’ health in restricted areas such as bio-clean rooms and intensive care units.
E-mart plans to launch a customer reception service using Pepper at its Starfield Goyang Toy Kingdom in Gyeonggi Province starting Oct. 17.
Earlier, in August, the retail giant introduced another humanoid robot based on SoftBank’s robotic platform Nao and IBM’s AI system Watson to help shoppers at its toy store.
Besides the partnership with LG Uplus, CJ CGV, the nation’s largest cinema chain operator, is testing Pepper at its multiplex cinema in Yongsan, Seoul, in October and November.