retail
unknown · unverified
- No deployment-specific evidence recorded.
🇯🇵 SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper
SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran · Japan / France · unveiled 2014
retired
supervised-autonomy
electric
data confidence: high
Watch changes · Evidence history and cited research export (API access) · Plan a pilot
Score breakdown
Autonomy & Intelligence · 25%70.0
Manipulation & Dexterity · 20%3.6
Mobility & Locomotion · 15%63.3
Hardware & Engineering · 15%46.2
Commercial Readiness & Deployment · 15%35.0
Ecosystem & Viability · 10%10.0
Each pillar is scored 0–100 from published specs, then weighted into the HMX. Compare it only with other humanoid robots — each category uses its own reference scales. See the full methodology →
Notable
Pepper was the first mass-produced social humanoid (~27,000 units), a wheeled, emotion-reading robot used in retail and hospitality. It moves on three omnidirectional wheels (not bipedal) at up to 3 km/h and was discontinued after Aldebaran's 2025 bankruptcy.
Deployment evidence
Legacy mentions are unverified. A partnership or announcement is not proof of an active deployment. Evidence labels do not change HMX v2 scoring.
hospitality
unknown · unverified
- No deployment-specific evidence recorded.
healthcare
unknown · unverified
- No deployment-specific evidence recorded.
banking
unknown · unverified
- No deployment-specific evidence recorded.
airports
unknown · unverified
- No deployment-specific evidence recorded.
education/research
unknown · unverified
- No deployment-specific evidence recorded.
Specifications
Evidence is attached to each value. Robot-wide source links do not verify every field. A source about an older value cannot support the current specification.
Height
121.0 cm
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Weight
28.0 kg
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Payload
Undisclosed
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Travel speed
0.83 m/s
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Runtime
12.0 h
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Battery
0.795 kWh
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Total DoF
20 DoF
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Hand DoF per hand
1 DoF
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Dexterous hands
No
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Actuation
electric
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Form factor
wheeled-base
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Onboard compute
Intel Atom processor (NAOqi OS)
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
AI model
Undisclosed
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Autonomy
supervised-autonomy
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Product status
retired
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Indicative price
25000.0 USD
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Funding
100.0 USD million
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
Company valuation
Undisclosed
unverified · 0 evidence records
Declared shared origins are grouped. Distinct domains and unclassified origins do not establish independent evidence.
No field-specific evidence recorded. This value is unverified at field level.
SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper in context: rank, rivals and specs
Compare with QSS AI & Saud →Pepper is a humanoid robot from SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran in Japan / France, and it is retired. It scores 40.9 on the Humanoid Metric, ranking 113th of 169.
On the leaderboard it sits between QSS AI & Saud (HMX 40.9) and X-Humanoid Tiangong (Tien Kung) (HMX 40.3).
Against the 169 humanoid robots ranked, its clearest strength is mobility & locomotion (63.3 against a median of 30.0) and its clearest weakness is manipulation & dexterity (3.6 against 40.0).
By the published specifications, it runs longer per charge than 99% of the 69 other humanoid robots publishing a runtime (12 h), is shorter than 90% of the 138 other humanoid robots publishing a height (121 cm) and is lighter than 90% of the 125 other humanoid robots publishing a weight (28 kg).
Its published price of $25,000 is below 56% of the 62 other humanoid robots with a public price.
On autonomy, it has demonstrated autonomy under human supervision, not unsupervised work. 6 deployment claims are on record, none yet backed by a customer, the press or the vendor.
Its specifications carry a high-confidence grade from 3 cited sources, as of 2026-06.
Task evidence
Task capability is not inferred from hardware specifications or general autonomy labels. Find robots for a task →
No task-specific evidence recorded. Capability remains unknown.
Sources · robot-level references, as of 2026-06
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper_(robot)
- https://robotsguide.com/robots/pepper
- https://www.therobotreport.com/aldebaran-pepper-nao-robots-receivership/
Machine-readable: HIS Layer 0 manifest at /robot/softbank-pepper/manifest.json, with a free API key · what's this?
Frequently asked questions about the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper
How much does the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper cost?
The SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper has a published price of $25,000.
What are the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper's specs?
Published specifications: speed 0.83 m/s, runtime 12 h, degrees of freedom 20, degrees of freedom per hand 1, height 121 cm, weight 28 kg. Not published: payload.
Is the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper autonomous?
The SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper has demonstrated autonomy under human supervision, not unsupervised work. The grade reflects demonstrations, not marketing claims.
How does the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper compare to the QSS AI & Saud?
On the HMX, the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper scores 40.9 and the QSS AI & Saud 40.9. The SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper leads on manipulation & dexterity, mobility & locomotion and ecosystem & viability; the QSS AI & Saud leads on hardware & engineering and commercial readiness & deployment.
Who makes the SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper?
The SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran Pepper is made by SoftBank Robotics / Aldebaran, in Japan / France.
Embed this score
Version history · 3 versions and 1 earlier update
Full history →Nothing is deleted: every version of this record is kept, with what changed in each.
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Version 386 · 19 Sep 2026, 00:56 UTC · score then 40.9
- height (cm): 120 → 121
- status: commercial → retired
Changed by: Update Pepper (confirmed: status, height_cm) (published automatically) -
Version 234 · 15 Sep 2026, 04:28 UTC · score then 50.6No field changed; the score was recalculated.Changed by a direct correction or a scoring update, not a research proposal.
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First recorded version · 6 Sep 2026, 05:24 UTC · score then 50.6The record as it stood when full copies began to be kept.