Although many vendors have already entered into the robot market and released products aiming for 2017, some market watchers are pessimistic about their demand as these products are not essential to consumers and limitations over their usages and technologies still require more times to be fully conquered.
Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) and Softbank's Pepper, which is used mainly for commercial services, Asustek Computer's Zenbo for the consumer market, Acer's Jibo and SdhouDe's ibotn, which is manufactured by Foxconn, are unlikely to be able to contribute profits in the short term.
The Pepper was launched in June 2015 in Japan and was later released in Taiwan in September 2016. Softbank and Foxconn are now planning to push the robot into Europe and North America targeting the enterprise sector.
The Zenbo is priced at US$599, but the robot's hardware/software integration is still not yet mature, while its detection and learning abilities still require more optimization. Asustek originally planned to launch a pre-order for the robot in November but will release the product in December.
