Pepper the robot's latest gig is at the Smithsonian

Pepper the robot certainly gets around. Besides welcoming folks at department stores and airports, the friendly android is also helping out at Pizza Hut and even working as a Buddhist priest. It recently put in a spell at a grocery store in Scotland, too, though admittedly that didn't work out so well. The diminutive droid's latest gig is at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. The organization claims to be "the first museum, research, and education complex in the world to experiment with this new and innovative technology," and is using 25 of the robots across its various locations in D.C. Built by Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank in collaboration with French robotics firm Aldebaran SAS, Pepper can recognize faces and emotions, and respond through voice or by showing messages and information on its torso-based tablet.