N e w te c h n o lo g y e n a b le s ro b o ts to d o th in g s th e y 'v e n e v e r d o n e

b e fo re in c lu d in g m a n y jo b s o n ce d o n e o n ly b y h u m a n s .
ast December, a worker
named Pepper started
selling coffeemakers in a
store in Japan. Pepper
chatted with customers, asking
them questions and helping
them choose the right machine.
But Pepper isnt a typical
salesperson. In fact, Pepper isnt
a person at allits a robot!
This 4-foot-tall h u m a n o id is
the first robot that can read

wim m m
(HYOO-meh-noyd)
noun, a robot or creature that
resembles a human being
a u to m a te d (AW-tuh-may-tehd)
adjective, operated by computers
or machines instead of people
h u m a n o id

4 I

SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION 5 / 6 'M a y 11,2015

peoples emotions. Pepper can

detect the tone of a persons
voice and analyze facial
expressions. Its creators say this
technology enables Pepper to
understand not only most of
what people are saying but also
what theyre feeling.
For the first time in human
history, were giving a robot a
heart, Masayoshi Son told
reporters last year. He is the chief
executive of SoftBank, the
company that sells Pepper.
SoftBank has big plans for the
robot. At least 1,000 Peppers are
expected to be working in stores
by the end of this year. Starting
this summer, people in Japan will
be able to buy their own Peppers

for about $1,600. Peppers

creators hope the robots will one
day be used as aides for the
elderly, keeping them company
while monitoring their health.
Robot workers are nothing
new. Theyve been used on
assembly lines in factories since
the 1960s. But until recently,
robots mainly did dull or
dangerous tasks. Now advanced
robot technology is allowing
machines like Pepper to do more
jobs, across more industries,
than ever before.

Robots R ead y to W o rk
Recently, guests at the Aloft
hotel in Cupertino, California, got
to meet a new type of bellhop.

ana
' A K5 security guard s
battery lasts about
When guests requested towels,
24 hours, so it can
toothbrushes, or other items, a
work almost nonstop
robot named SaviOne delivered
them to their rooms.
SaviOne used scanners to see
where it was going, and it had a
touch-screen face that guests
used to communicate with it.
SaviOnes tryout lasted from
August to March. An upgraded
robot, called Relay, is scheduled
to take its place soon.
The worlds biggest computer
software company is also looking
at adding robots to its workforce.
Microsoft recently tested the use
of robot security guards to patrol and delivering them to human
workers, who pack and ship them
the grounds of its facility in
Mountain View, California. The
to customers.
Also, more than 3,000 robots
robots, known as K5s, have
now assist surgeons in operating
cameras that allow them to scan
rooms around the world. The
an area and look for suspicious
robots make much more precise
activity. The egg-shaped robots
cuts than human hands can.
have a siren to alert human
security guards if anything looks
T h e F u tu r e o f R o b o ts
out of the ordinary.
Amazon, the worlds largest
With so many robots on the
online retailer, has already put
job, where does that leave human
robots to work in a big way. Since workers? Some people worry that
robots will replace many of us. A
last July, robots have been
recent study by experts at Oxford
helping fill orders at Amazons
University in England predicted
warehouses, some of which are
that 45 percent of all jobs could
as big as 28 football fields. The
be a u to m a te d by the year 2033.
robots zoom around the
But others think theres room
warehouse floor, locating items
for both robots and people in
the workforce. They say robots
can actually create more jobs
because people are needed to
build, program, train, and
supervise them.
Technology is not something
to be afraid ofjust the opposite,
says Ken Goldberg, a robotics
expert at the University of
California, Berkeley. Robots
are being designed to inspire
and enhance humans, not
eliminate us.
by Nicole Tocco

m&M

Cool o r
C re e p y ?
Robots aren't being built
just to do hum ans'jobs.
Some are even made to look
exactly like us! A hotel that's
opening in Japan in July is set
to become the first to use
hum anlike robots. Guests
will check in to the Henn-na
Hotel w ith the help of robots
th at have hair, skin, and
other features th at resemble
those of a real person. The
look-alikes ( s im ila r to th e one
b e lo w ) will be able to speak,

blink, and shake their heads.

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