Man Arrested For Assaulting Emotional Robot
A 60-year-old man has been arrested after he attacked a robot in a store in Tokyo, Japan earlier this week. The man, who police believe had been drinking, had become angry with a clerk serving him but rather than assault the man, he instead kicked and punched the robot causing serious damage.
The robot in question was Pepper, a specially designed robot that has been described as emotional because it can allegedly read people’s reactions and emotions. Japanese company SoftBank created the device in the hopes it could be used in a variety of situations.
They are already using them to greet customers in some of their stores while they believe that care homes and schools could also use them to provide a friendly companion or provide entertainment. When they went on sale earlier in the year, they sold out all 1,000 units that were available in less than a minute, coming with a price tag of over $1,500.
