Pepper, one of the world’s first commercially available robots, will appear before UK parliament on October 16th for an evidence session involving robots and how they’re taking over the world.
The Commons Education Selection Committee will host Pepper among other witnesses to be questioned by members of parliament in an effort to better understand robots and what role they will play in humanity’s future, including their replacement of McDonald’s workers.
Committee chair Robert Halfon shared that Pepper will respond to a variety of questions with both natural and pre-programmed responses designed by SoftBanks Robotics, the company responsible for his creation.
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Hafton, among others, is concerned about how A.I. will impact the workforce and other elements of society in the coming decades, sharing:
The fourth industrial revolution is possibly the most important challenge facing our nation over the next 10, 20 to 30 years.
SoftBanks Robotics built the first commercially available version of Pepper in 2016. Equipped with a 3D camera, 20 degrees of movement, and programmable functions, he’s most often used as a greeter for events and as an event promoter capable of performing automated data-driven analysis.
While he might not appear human-like, Pepper is one of the earliest examples of robotic function. Even then, robotics and A.I. have come a long way in the past two years, to a point where Japan recently created robot bees to pollinate our planet, and robot brothels are now a thing.
