Sun Zhengyi had high hopes, pepper robot become chicken ribs, Softbank machine

Share with friends and circle of friends with wechat scan QR code on July 22, 2014, sun Zhengyi, CEO of Softbank group of Japan, released a big eye robot pepper, and described to the participants a new era of personal robots that used to be only in science fiction. Sun Zhengyi said at the time that Softbank would become the industry leader in the era of personal robots but now two people familiar with the matter say that Softbank's vision and expectations of Pepper's market demand are too optimistic. Today, seven years later, the robot pepper is still dead, the related production line is about to close, and the robot equipment sold is just an outdated product made up of old parts according to the minutes of an internal meeting held in Paris at the end of May this year, Softbank will stop selling the new pepper robot by 2023 at the latest, because the parts used are out of date. The company's management told employees that only refurbished robots would be sold in the future Softbank objected to the public minutes of the meeting, and Kazutaka HASUMI, chief marketing officer of Softbank robotics, said that the company is still committed to ensuring the continued existence of the pepper robot product and may make changes to the product design "We will continue to sell pepper in five years," Kazutaka HASUMI said this robot is customized for Softbank by Aldebaran, a French robot company. Sun Zhengyi hopes pepper can turn robots from factory tools into partners in people's daily life, just as computers go from the office to the pockets of families and consumers but the attraction of pepper robot is limited by its basic functions. This product can only carry out basic dialogue with users, complete simple interaction through the tablet installed in front of the user's chest, or sing while making gestures. Robots often break down, the two sources said Morten Paulsen, head of Japan research at CLSA, said, "pepper has not been upgraded to take on real day-to-day tasks. The iPad can do whatever pepper can do. " The retail price of the pepper robot is about $1800, plus a subscription fee of $134 per month, which makes most Japanese families shy away. Softbank was soon forced to focus pepper's robotics business on the corporate sector. Initially, pepper robots won the favor of shops and restaurants, which used robots to meet customers but according to people familiar with the matter and two other people familiar with the matter, the poor relationship between Softbank and Aldebaran has affected pepper's business development two sources said that Softbank supported the sales of pepper robots by deploying robot business in its mobile retail stores. One of the two people familiar with the matter said that the pepper robot eventually produced 27000 units According to relevant documents, the sales volume of pepper robots has dropped to less than 100 in recent months According to the document, with the increase of unsold products, a production line of pepper robot was closed last year the file also shows that Softbank currently has less than 2000 pepper robots in stock. One of the sources said that the battery that powered the robot was aging, while the tablet installed on the robot's chest was still running the Android version that had passed for a long time, and there was no security update robot dream SUN Zhengyi boasts of being a "boaster" and has achieved some impossible things. For example, lead Softbank to break the monopoly situation of Japanese telecom industry, or win $60 billion for vision fund SUN Zhengyi is also fond of popular products. He once introduced Apple's first iPhone to the Japanese market. But when Softbank released the pepper robot, the company had little experience in designing and manufacturing products, let alone robots the expected market demand has never been realized. Although pepper robot helped sun Zhengyi spread the name of Softbank to the whole world, customers will return it to Softbank after the lease term two years ago, Softbank also launched whiz, an automatic vacuum cleaner, in an attempt to revive the robotics business. Two other sources said sales staff had been trying to persuade customers to pay $500 a month for the product, which only cleans open spaces and often breaks down According to Kenichi Yoshida, chief business officer of Softbank robotics, the epidemic has boosted the demand for whiz, and the company received 8000 orders from April to June this year According to two sources, Softbank is also considering other robot products, including a robot that can make ramen. The company also sells a service robot called servi. The robot, developed by bear robotics in California, can deliver food to diners pure market investment Softbank's robot business performed poorly, especially last year. At that time, the economic downturn forced Sun Zhengyi to change his strategy, sell assets to stabilize the company's balance sheet, and promote companies in the portfolio to give priority to generating cash flow it was reported last month that Softbank robotics launched a global restructuring plan, including a plan to cut half of its staff in Paris According to Yoshida, Softbank's robotics division is close to profitability and is likely to go public. He said Softbank's robotics Division has turned to pure market investment through the vision fund and has reduced its majority stake in companies such as Boston power, but continues to hold a small stake in some robotics companies Softbank has also reached robot sales agreements with iris OHYAMA of Japan and robotlab of the United States. In an interview, Elad INBAR, chief executive of robotlab, said there was a niche market for selling pepper robots to corporate customers and the education sector "our work in this ecosystem shows that there is market demand here," he said（ Chen Chen) 1

2023-03-22 10:04:38

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