Emotion-reading robot 'Pepper' sells out in a single minute

SoftBank's robot Pepper isn't designed to do any heavy lifting or household chores, but it does promise to be a constant source of companionship and emotional support.

It appears that's just fine by consumers, as the tech-enabled best friend sold out within a minute of its release.

The initial one thousand robots made available for purchase were priced at roughly 16 hundred dollars each.

There's also an additional monthly insurance and data fee of about 200 dollars.

What buyers are promised in return for their investment is a buddy who can read and interpret human emotions and do all it can to make people happy.

SoftBank does caution that Pepper may not come out of the box knowing everything about feelings or how to best deal with them.

Given time, however, they assure consumers that the robot will learn.

This ability is powered in part by a bevy of cameras and sensors, which feed Pepper information about expressions, language and its surroundings.

Also aiding in the process is access to a wisdom-filled data cloud.

Not only will Pepper become more attuned to others' personalities over time, the robot will develop one of its own.