PARIS, July 25 — The semi-humanoid robot Pepper, once hailed as a breakthrough in emotional artificial intelligence, is effectively no more. Aldebaran Robotics, the manufacturer formerly known as Softbank Robotics Europe, entered receivership in 2025, shutting the door on further production or development. For global markets watching the robotics sector — including emerging players in Central Asia where automation investments are rising — the Pepper story offers a hard lesson in the gap between hype and demand.
From Launch to Sellouts
Pepper was introduced in Tokyo on 5 June 2014 by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son. Designed to read human emotions through facial expression and voice tone analysis, it went on display in SoftBank Mobile stores the next day. The initial public reception was electric.
The first batch of 1,000 units sold out in 60 seconds in June 2015. A UK launch followed in 2016.
By May 2018, 12,000 units had been sold in Europe. Yet production numbers tell a more sobering story. By the time the company paused manufacturing in June 2021, citing weak demand, an estimated 27,000 units had been manufactured.
Real-World Deployments
Pepper did carve out niches. In the UK, it worked as a receptionist at offices including Brainlabs in London. Japanese banks and medical facilities deployed it.
All branches of the Hamazushi restaurant chain used Pepper. North American airports, such as Montréal–Trudeau, put it to work.
In Tokyo, a dozen-unit cafe opened in December 2019. In sports, a team of Pepper robots performed as cheerleaders at a July 2020 baseball game. Academically, the robot was used in schools and universities for programming instruction and human-robot interaction research.
The most substantial institutional backing came from an international project called CARESSES, jointly funded by the European Union and the Japanese government for over two million Euros over three years. That project studied Pepper’s use in care homes.
On 16 October 2018, a Pepper robot gave evidence to the UK Parliament’s Education Committee about that project. Long-term studies from CARESSES showed that residents and care workers were willing to interact with the robot. Despite those encouraging signals, the commercial model did not hold.
Production paused in June 2021. In 2025, Aldebaran Robotics went into receivership, effectively ending the robot’s future. On 11 January 2024, a voice library based on Pepper’s voice was released by VoiSona, preserving a sliver of the technology in software form.
What to Watch Next
For investors and policymakers in Central Asia’s fledgling tech ecosystems — where robotics startups are beginning to court government and mining-sector clients — the rise and fall of Pepper is a concrete reference point. A product that could read emotions, that secured major EU-Japan research funding, and that sold out its first run in 60 seconds, still could not sustain a market. The company’s receivership in 2025 closed the chapter.
No successor project has been announced.
