Towards an Open Simulation Environment for the Pepper Robot

Abstract

Softbank»s Pepper robot recently gained massive traction in diverse domains. On the one hand, the robot interacts with potential customers in shopping malls, stores, at trade fairs and various social events serving as a concierge or "Pepper-as-Promoter", grabbing attention and fostering customer engagement. On the other hand, the RoboCup federation opened up a completely new league in 2017: the Social Standard Platform League (SSPL). In this new league, the Pepper was chosen as the standard social platform that teams will rely on in competitions in the years to come. Lastly, Pepper is an attractive platform for academic institutions since it is, in contrast to other platforms, relatively low priced and does not require a high degree of maintenance or prior knowledge with respect to, e.g., mechanical engineering.