Alibaba joins hands with Foxconn to develop SoftBank’s robotics industry

SoftBank, the tech group founded by Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, is forming a robotics venture with ecommerce group Alibaba and Apple supplier Foxconn, betting big on the future growth of intelligent personal robots.

由日本亿万富翁孙正义创办的科技集团软银，正在与电商集团阿里巴巴及苹果供应商富士康成立机器人合资企业，大举押注于智能个人机器人的未来增长。

Mr Son and Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, predicted a future when robots will become smarter than humans, saying robots connected to the internet will be the future of innovation.

孙正义与阿里巴巴创始人马云预测未来的机器人将会比人类更聪明，他们称与互联网连接的机器人将会是创新的未来方向。

“Robots are going to be as popular as cars,” Mr Ma said on June 18 in a joint appearance with Mr Son on the outskirts of Tokyo. “They will be everywhere and I think we all have to get ready for that.”

“机器人将会像汽车一样普及，”马云6月18号与孙正义一同现身东京郊区时称，“它们将无处不在，我认为我们都应该对此做好准备。”

A year ago, Mr Son introduced the world to the androgynous 1.2-metre tall machine called Pepper, which moves on wheels and looks like it is wearing an iPad as a pendant.

一年前，孙正义向世界介绍了1.2米高的人形机器人Pepper。该机器人靠轮子移动，看起来就像是胸前挂着iPad。

Mr Son highlighted technological advances in Pepper, claiming that the robot could not only read human emotions, but also express feelings of its own that change according to how people interact with it.

孙正义强调了Pepper的技术进步，声称该机器人不仅可以识别人类情感，还可以表达自己的情感并随着人类与之的互动而发生情感变化。

“In 30 years, I hope robots will become one of the core businesses in generating profits for the SoftBank group,” Mr Son said.

“在30年的时间内，我希望机器人将成为软银集团产生利润的核心业务之一，”孙正义称。

Pepper will be sold to the general public in Japan for $1,600. Mr Son said the company will aim for monthly production of about 1,000 units of Pepper, starting from this month.

在日本，Pepper面向公众的销售价格将为1600美元。孙正义称，从本月开始，该公司对Pepper的月产量目标为1000台。