Pepper the robot has lost jobs because people 'expect the intelligence of a human'

It was launched to much fanfare seven years ago, but it appears Pepper, the friendly humanoid robot, may soon be on the scrapheap. The $1,790 (£1,290) machine, which is battling to stave off retirement after its maker said last month that production had been'paused for a while', keeps getting fired from jobs. It has been sacked from roles at a nursing home, funeral business and bank because people'expect the intelligence of a human', one expert said of Pepper, which is one of the first humanoid robots able to'read' emotions. Sacked: Pepper the robot (pictured), which is battling to stave off retirement after its maker said last month that production had been'paused for a while', keeps getting fired from jobs It has lost jobs at a nursing home, funeral business and bank because people'expect the intelligence of a human', one expert said of Pepper, one of the first bots able to'read' emotions Emotion-reading robots called'Pepper' were designed by Japanese company Softbank Robotics. The expressive humanoid is designed to identify and react to human emotions.