Nestlé Using a Robot Capable of Responding to Emotions to Sell Nescafé in Japan

What better way to sell a machine than with a machine? Nestlé Japan is set to begin selling Nescafé Dolce Gusto single-cup machines and Gold Blend coffee using Pepper, a humanoid robot capable of responding to human emotions. Yep, the inevitable future featuring robots has finally arrived.

The first of its kind, the robot will be able to read and respond to emotions to sell the products. The robot is equipped with voice- and emotio-recognition technology, as well as being able to read people’s facial expressions and tone of voice. Pepper takes all these factors into account and analyzes how its customer is feeling. The robot also moves pretty fluidly. Scary, actually.

Nestlé is planning to have a robot in 1,000 stores nationwide by the end of 2015. So basically a semi-sentient robot legion.

Great.