Pizza Hut Asia to trial SoftBank's Pepper for MasterCard payments

MasterCard has unveiled the first commerce application for Softbank's Pepper, with the humanoid robot to be trialled by Pizza Hut Restaurants Asia for order taking and payments processing. To use Pepper, a customer will need to pair their MasterPass account either by tapping the Pepper icon within the wallet or by scanning a QR code on the tablet that the robot holds. After pairing, Pepper will then be able to initiate, approve, and complete a transaction by connecting to MasterPass via Wi-Fi, with the transaction completed within the wallet on the customer's mobile device. "Consumers have come to expect personalised service, customised offers, and simple and seamless processes both in-store and online," Tobias Puehse, vice president, innovation management, Digital Payments & Labs at MasterCard said. "The app's goal is to provide consumers with more memorable and personalised shopping experience beyond today's self-serve machines and kiosks, by combining Pepper's intelligence with a secure digital payment experience via MasterPass."