Hello everyone! This is SHIOZAWA from ATL.
On April 23rd 2015 we finally released the Suuumo Counter Edition of the robot Pepper, which we developed from this past February. Pepper is set at the SUUMO counter shop in Ario Hashimoto in Sagamihara city, Kanagawa.
From the 17th of April I started setting up Pepper at the shop, and I fine-tuned its position to see if the light and noise around there were okay and the customers operated it well. Since Ario Hashimoto is a big shopping center and there are lots of noises from other shops, public announcements, and displays at the shop, it was hard for Pepper to make conversation with customers.
I realized I should have put more consideration more into real world environment when I setup Pepper at a real location for the first time. I usually stay indoors all day doing development.
I should have given more concern to the other businesses near the shop, because the voice of Pepper became an annoyance to their doing business. Moreover, I found out what confused the customers and also found the best adjustment of the timing of displaying each image and button via observing the customers experience with the tablet application.
Fortunately, many customers came into the shop. I was so happy to see this project was well received by children who are our main target.
The children’s feedback was: “Enjoyable”, “Interesting”, “Fantastic”, “It works”, “ Pepper is a robot”, “Scary”, “I want to come back and play with it again”, etc.
When you come around here please come stop by and see Pepper at the shop by until the 10th of May.
Pepper’s operation days are : April 23rdto May 10th from 13:00~18:00
※closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Place: SUUMO Counter Shop at Ario Hashimoto 2F in Sagamihara city, Kanagawa