機器人Pepper要在日本"上崗"賣手機

SoftBank Corp. said Wednesday its Pepper humanoid robots will staff a cellphone store in Tokyo for a week this spring.

日本軟銀公司週三表示，將在東京開設以人形機器人Pepper爲員工的手機店，在一週時間裏限期營業。

The firm said the static, talking machines will run the store from March 28 to April 3 in the city's upscale Omotesando shopping district. SoftBank already operates a separate store in the neighborhood.

該公司表示，這款靜態的，說話的機器將會於3月28日至4月3日在東京的高級商業區表參道營業。軟銀公司已經在附近開設了一家分店。

"I don't know how this will turn out, but it should be a quite interesting experiment," said SoftBank CEO Ken Miyauchi during a two-day exhibition called Pepper World.

軟銀公司的董事宮內謙在一次爲期兩天的名爲“Pepper World”的展示會上說道；“我不知道結果會怎樣，但它應該是一個很有趣的實驗。”

The telecoms giant said it will deploy five to six Peppers at the shop. Customers will be able to ask the robots for explanations of the various cellphone options, and for those that decide to buy, the robot will attempt to complete the sales process.

這家電信巨頭表示，店內將配備5、6臺Pepper機器人。顧客可以要求機器人講解各種手機的選項設置，機器人也會嘗試着爲那些決定購買手機的顧客完成整個銷售手續。

However, SoftBank says it is difficult for the robots to check people's IDs when signing a contract, so humans will be on hand to intervene.

但是，軟銀公司也表示，由於簽約時，機器人很難覈實顧客的身份證，因此店員將介入這項工作。

Pepper made its commercial debut in June last year. Miyauchi said the device had acquired quite a following already, as more than 500 firms were now using it.

去年六月，Pepper完成了它的商業處女秀。宮內謙表示，該設備已經獲得了相當的認可，有超過500家公司正在使用它。

He said the machine may represent a labor-saving solution to companies short of manpower.

他說道，這臺機器將可能是一種解決公司人手短缺問題的省力方案。