SAN FRANCISCO -- While merrily chirping, dancing and posing for selfies, a robot named Pepper looks like another expensive toy at a San Francisco mall. But don't dismiss it as mere child's play.

Japanese robot Pepper is getting an intelligence upgrade via IBM’s Watson, but that doesn’t make interacting with the real world any less challenging. The humanoid will channel Watson’s artificial ...

The robot takeover of retail banking has begun. It’s starting at HSBC’s main branch on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and involves a friendly robot called Pepper. For those not in the know, Pepper is the ...