THG News · Product Launch

SoftBank Unveils Pepper-2 With Helix-Style VLA Brain

June 17, 2026

SoftBank Robotics announced Pepper-2 on June 17, the long-awaited successor to its discontinued original Pepper. The new platform is taller (140 cm), faster, and runs a licensed version of Figure AI's Helix VLA model — the first time Helix has been licensed to a third party.

Pepper-2 will target retail concierge, restaurant runner, and hospital wayfinding roles in Japan. SoftBank has 1,200 pre-orders, mostly from existing Pepper-1 customers including 7-Eleven Japan and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking.

The launch coincides with Masayoshi Son's new "Crystal Ball" $100B AI-robotics fund, announced separately last week. Son said the goal is to make Japan "the world's most robot-dense economy by 2030."