Nestle to hire robotic sales staff

Last week we reported on the presence of a robotic barista called Nextage who served up coffee for Kawada Industries at the Japanese Robot Week which was recently held in Tokyo.

Visitors to a purpose-built stall used a tablet device to select their drink of choice and whether they would like to customise it or not. Nextage would then set about making it by selecting the coffee, operating the coffee machine and then adding any extra personal items such as the required amount of milk and sugar.

As we noted, it literally brought about a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘robotic service’.

Well, so enamoured with the idea of coffee-loving androids, Nestle have decided to hire 1,000 robots to work in retail stores. All 1,000 will begin work in Japan in the near future.

It is expected that the first automaton servers will begin work in December and will focus on selling the Dolce Gusto range of capsule machines, just in time for the Christmas rush.

The humanoid robot that is being used is titled Pepper and is the first robot in the world that can read and respond to changing human emotions. Packed full of the latest technology, ‘she’ can also analyse a customer’s facial expressions and react accordingly.

Kohzoh Takoka, the CEO of Nestle’s Japanese division, said that “Pepper will be able to explain Nescafe products and services and engage in conversations with consumers.

“I hope that this new consumer engagement model will expand across the world as an example of Japanese innovation.”

These robots have been designed and built by the SoftBank Corporation whose chairman, Masayuki Son, spoke of creating ‘experiences of wonder and delight’ for those who come into contact with the newly trained Nestle sales representatives.

Robotic barista, robotic sales staff, soon we’ll be living in a robotic world fill with robotic thoughts….

photo: kyu3 さん (used under specified creative commons)