Pepper the humanoid robot by the SoftBank Mobile comes with an impeccable sense of perception as it accurately perceives the tone of your voice and expressions and responds accordingly. The robot is now being employed by the Pizza hut to serve as a cashier.
As a result of the partnership between SoftBank and MasterCard, Pepper will now be employed by the selected Pizza Hut restaurants as a cashier. The bot will start it’s new job by the end of the year. The aim of this project is to enhance the user involvement by ensuring that they enjoy a cognitive experience with the robot, instead of digital pay spot sporting tablets and a digital interface. Pepper will walk the customers through their takeaway and drive-through orders.
The MasterPass digital wallet will be used by Pepper to check out customers. The customer-robot interaction will be customized by the past purchasing habits of the client. Pepper’s emotion-sensing capability will come in handy to help it adjust to the consumer’s mood.
In fact, the ordering process will be modified if the customer is happy or sad, making the process more engaging. The bot could crack some jokes etc. to lift up your spirits.
“It’s almost like digital empathy.”
The bot will be introduced in the Pizza Hut stores across selected locations in the Asia-Pacific region because Pepper is easily available in the territory and has also been employed for similar customer service jobs. The partners believe that Pepper will strike a familiar figure in the restaurants.
Watch Pepper welcome the customers to the Pizza Hut joint in this video:
However, the team behind the project emphasized that the robot will not be able to replace the human employees.
“This is complementing the experience. It’s not meant to replace human interaction. Pepper makes transactional components of the experience more fun and engaging. You have the ability to make a more informed ordering experience than previously with a cashier, because it knows what the customer’s personal preferences are.”
So, pepperoni pizza anyone?