Sam Nussey

TOKYO, Reuters – SoftBank Group Corp has been in discussions to sell its Paris-based robotics company behind Pepper android to Germany’s United Robotics Group. According to documents and sources reviewed by Reuters it is scaling down a once-promising growth engine.

According to two people familiar with this matter who refused to give their names because they don’t have permission to speak to the press, talks are continuing and plans might change. SoftBank’s stake in the company is unclear, as well as the value of the deal.

United Robotics Group was backed in Germany by Hahn and became the European master distributor of SoftBank’s Nao and Pepper robots.

United Robotics has declined to comment. SoftBank stated that it is committed to Pepper.

Reuters reported in June https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-softbank-shrinks-robotics-business-stops-pepper-production-sources-2021-06-28 that SoftBank had stopped production of Pepper and slashed jobs at its robotics business globally. France saw roughly half the 330 positions being cut. These operations are backdated to 2012’s acquisition by Aldebaran (a start-up that custom-designed Pepper) and were subsequently shut down globally.

Low morale has led to additional staff leaving, forcing SoftBank, according to sources, to post positions for core functions.

According to United Robotics’ website, the company has locations in Germany and Austria. Sources say that the company hired recently departed SoftBank personnel in areas like sales.

SoftBank, which is riven by a culture divide between its European workforce and Japanese managers, has a dwindling stock of aging Pepper units https://www.reuters.com/article/us-softbank-group-pepper-focus-idCAKBN2ER0JK and components approaching obsolescence, Reuters reported previously.

United Robotics is a company that sells Pepper, Nao and a small, humanoid robot. It also offers Sawyer robots, which are industrial robots that can be used alongside humans.

SoftBank will now focus on third-party hardware sales following the financial failure of Pepper.

Conglomerate created parallel operations in Britain to sell its products, decreasing dependence on Paris-based businesses.

According to Reuters sources, SoftBank engineers have been in France working on a secret project called Plato to create a service robot.

According to sources, Japanese managers have delayed ordering the robot. SoftBank is also selling similar robots to outside vendors, which has reduced the product’s commercial viability.