Japan’s tech giant SoftBank took the wraps of a new “emotional” robot today.

CEO Masayoshi Son introduced the robot named Pepper at a press conference in Tokyo.

Pepper is skilled at reading emotions and will be greeting customers at Softbank’s Tokyo outlets.

Son has plans to market Pepper next year at a price of about two thousand dollars.

Pepper joins Honda’s Asimo among the ranks of Japan’s cute humanoid robots.

Son says he wants to create affectionate robots that make people smile.

Pepper can apparently even make jokes thanks to capabilities developed with one of Japan’s leading entertainment agencies.