Scientists make Pepper the robot 'think out loud'

Scientists have modified Pepper the robot to think out loud, which they say can increase transparency and trust between human and machine. The Italian team built an'inner speech model' that allowed the robot to talk through its thought processes, just like humans when faced with a challenge or a dilemma. The experts found Pepper was better at overcoming confusing human instructions when it could relay its own inner dialogue out loud. Pepper – which has already been used as a receptionist and a coffee shop attendee – is the creation of Japanese tech company SoftBank. By creating their own'extension' of Pepper, the team have realised the concept of robotic inner speech, which they say could be applied in robotics contexts such as learning and regulation.