TOKYO, Japan – Nestle Japan and Ant Financial Services have teamed up to open a Spring Festival-themed robot café in Tokyo’s Asakusa district, a popular destination for Chinese tourists.
Robots handle all aspects of service at the café, from taking orders to making and serving coffee.
All Pepper robots are installed with software in Chinese including Alipay, a Chinese mobile payment service.
Customers can make orders in Chinese, speak Chinese with the robots and ask them to make special gestures used to wish a happy and prosperous Chinese new year.
Shoppers can also play an omikuji game with the robot servants to draw their fortune lots.
Pepper is a human-like robot manufactured by Japan’s telecom and internet giant Softbank.
Equipped with a microphone, camera, and 3D sensor on its head, Pepper can identify and respond to people’s facial expressions, voices and emotions.
