Pepper the Robot at Pizza Hut

MasterCard unveils the first commerce application for SoftBank Robotics' humanoid robot Pepper. The application will be powered by MasterPass, the global digital payment service from MasterCard that connects consumers with merchants, enabling them to make fast, simple, and secure digital payments across channels and devices.

SoftBank's Pepper robot has been employed in the past at hotel desks. Now though Pizza Hut Asia is partnering with MasterCard on a trial that will use Pepper in their restaurants. By the end of 2016, Pepper will be able to interact with customers, take orders, and even take payment information. Once customers pair their MasterPass account, they can do everything from paying for your meal to asking about the calorie count.

Looks like Pepper may be putting some Pizza Hut employees out of work soon.

Atlas robot progresses, humans not so much

A new version of Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects.

This week the people of Boston Dynamics posted a video of Atlas, a humanoid bipedal robot. Have you seen it?

It starts innocently enough. Atlas going for a stroll in the woods. Atlas picking up 10-pound boxes and putting them on shelves. Then the Canadian bully shows up. As Atlas tries to pick up a box from the middle of an empty floor an evil hockey player comes up and knocks the box out of Atlas’s hand. Atlas calmly tries to pick up the box again but the human starts sliding the box with the stick just out of Atlas’s reach. Eventually the human escalates to kicking Atlas down to the ground. As Atlas slowly rises back to its feet you can feel the plan to eventually rule all humans forming with rage in its processor.