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Technology

SoftBank stops making Pepper robot but says it isn't dead

$2,000 Foxconn-built humanoid serves as a face of the group

Pepper and SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son: The robot has served as a face for SoftBank's push into AI. (Photo by Koji Uema)

TOKYO -- SoftBank Group's robotics unit has halted production of the Pepper humanoid robot, owing to weak demand.

The artificial-intelligence-equipped robot was marketed to stores and other customer-facing jobs in such markets as Japan, China, Europe and the U.S. But production was stopped last summer as inventories piled up, Nikkei has learned.

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