Japanese company SoftBank is reportedly planning to sell its robot Pepper at less than its actual production cost.
In order to compensate for the lower selling price, the company is likely to charge high monthly fees for the humanoid robot.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the robot would have an upfront price of ¥198,000 ($1,660), but the monthly fees with a three-year contract could go up to ¥24,600 ($206).
The 121-cm-tall robot is connected to the internet and has artificial intelligence, which will allow it to recognise human voices, read body language and facial expressions through the video camera in its eyes.
Pepper can do simple conversations, remind owners of daily tasks and provide medical assistant by reporting the number of pills consumed to a doctor in remote office through internet, reported The Japan Times.
SoftBank expects Pepper to be an assistant for the elderly, work as a teacher for schoolchildren and also work in retail.
Initially the company will be shipping 300 units of pepper to developers.
However, previously the company provided limited units of Pepper to application developers for the creation of smartphone like apps for the robot, reported the Wall Street Journal.
The monthly fee is likely to include a basic service fee of ¥14,800 to provide cloud artificial intelligence capabilities to Pepper.
