Foxconn Electronics is expected to ship a total of 60,000
Pepper robots from its plant in Shandong, China in 2016, valued at
US$500 million, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
The
Shandong plant is currently rolling out 2,000 Pepper robots a month and
is shipping the robots to the US and Europe, in addition to the initial
markets in Japan and Taiwan.
The Pepper is developed
by Japan-based SoftBank Robotics Holdings (SBRH), of which Foxconn and
the Alibaba Group have a 20% stake each.
In addition to
the Pepper robots, Foxconn has also begun volume production of a
toddler-care mini robot, the ibotn, which is developed by Taiwan ShouDe
International Electronics.
Production of the ibotn robots will reach 5,000 units a month by the second quarter of 2017.
