LG Uplus and SoftBank Robotics, a Japanese robot company, will introduce the world’s first humanoid social robot “Pepper” to Korea next month, LG Uplus엘지유플러스 said Thursday.

Pepper is equipped with the first artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by LG Uplus to provide conversation and customized product recommendation functions in various fields such as personnel, weather, and information search, as well as self-developed customer response program, store guidance, voice quiz, performance, and play, the company said.

“Pepper,” the world’s first humanoid social robot, has been introduced by LG Uplus and SoftBank Robotics.

Pepper will also serve as a real-time response service for foreign customers who use English, Chinese and Japanese support functions, it added.

Domestic companies that will install Pepper are Woori Bank우리은행, Kyobo Bookstore교보문고, Gachon University Gil Medical Center가천대병원, Lotte Department Store롯데백화점, and E-Mart이마트, which are representatives of each industrial sector, including LG Uplus.

LG Uplus plans to display various products such as smartphones, pricing plans, and membership recommendation, in addition to talking with customers by displaying Pepper in their flagship store in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province.

To provide Pepper with optimized services in each business area, LG Uplus will take a leading role in negotiating with Softbank Robotics and continuously improve the service by collecting feedback from operators during the trial period.

Gachon University Gil Medical Center will introduce Pepper as the first healthcare robot in the medical field and will place it in the main lobby and the artificial intelligence cancer center to provide patient information and various health information as well as to clean intensive care rooms.

"It is the first time in Korea that a carrier's artificial intelligence technology is applied to Pepper, and unlike other carriers, it introduces the AI platform through artificial intelligence robots,” said Song Dae-won송대원, managing director of AI devices at LG Uplus. "Artificial intelligence technology is a recent trend that is applied first to the B2B field where profitable realization is possible.”

As companies representing various industries are participating, the company expects that service utilization will be further enhanced in the future, he added.

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