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ROBO SPACE
Japan's SoftBank unveils 'family member' robot
by Staff Writers
Urayasu, Japan (AFP) June 05, 2014


American critic of digital era scoops German book award
Berlin (AFP) June 05, 2014 - An American critic of the digital age has been awarded a prestigious German book prize for his groundbreaking role in exploring the risks of today's Internet technologies, its organisers said Thursday.

Jaron Lanier, credited with coining the phrase "virtual reality", has scooped this year's Peace Prize of the German Publishers' and Booksellers' Association, at a time when the country is engaged in a heated debate about Internet security.

The prize, which carries a 25,000-euro ($34,000) endowment, comes exactly a year after former CIA intelligence contractor Edward Snowden began revealing the vast scope of the US data dragnet, triggering privacy fears.

Data-sensitive Germans in particular reacted with outrage to the leaks.

Lanier's two books, which include last year's "Who Owns the Future?" have helped make the California-based 54-year-old "one of the most important critics of the digital world in our time", the association said in a statement.

It described the 2013 work as "a call to equip the digital universe with structures that respect the rights of individuals while simultaneously fostering democratic participation".

The book looks at the concentration of power and money in today's digital networks.

Lanier, who has also worked in the field as an entrepreneur and researcher, had highlighted "the threats our open society faces when deprived of the power to control its own progress and development", it added.

The prize, which ranks behind the country's top literary award, the Georg Buechner Prize, will be presented during the Frankfurt book fair in October.

Past winners have included Turkey's Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and Chinese dissident author Liao Yiwu.

Japan's SoftBank on Thursday unveiled what it billed as an "emotional" humanoid robot that will entertain customers at the mobile carrier's phone outlets -- and maybe become a member of their family.

Company president Masayoshi Son joked around with the talking, dancing and singing humanoid named Pepper at an event just outside Tokyo.

The bug-eyed 120-centimetre (3.9-feet) tall robot may eventually take on a customer-service agent role at Softbank's stores, Son said, adding that its "human emotions" made it a perfect fit for families in a rapidly ageing society where labour shortages loom.

"Pepper is not yet perfect, but he can already understand about 70 to 80 percent of spontaneous conversations," Son told reporters.

The robot can learn and "understand" human facial expressions and emotions, making it a perfect party companion, babysitter or even caretaker for seniors, said the flamboyant chief executive, who led SoftBank's $22 billion purchase of US-based Sprint last year.

"Pepper could become a very good friend and a powerful tutor for a child, for example. He could learn about a family over several years... and actually become a member of the family."

Robots are common in technology-obsessed Japan. A humanoid developed by automaker Honda chatted and kicked around a soccer ball with visiting US President Barack Obama earlier this year.

SoftBank's Pepper, which would be sold from February for about $2,000, was developed by French robot maker Aldebaran Robotics and would be manufactured by Taiwan's Foxconn, a major supplier to Apple.

It will start greeting customers at two Tokyo outlets from Friday, Son said.

SoftBank is well known in Japan for its quirky TV commercials in which a snow-white dog heads a multicultural family.

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