Pepper vs NAO
Compare Pepper (SoftBank Robotics) and NAO (Aldebaran / SoftBank Robotics) side by side: degrees of freedom, weight, payload, battery life, actuators, and status.
| Spec | Pepper | NAO |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | SoftBank Robotics | Aldebaran / SoftBank Robotics |
| Category | Humanoid | Humanoid |
| Country | Japan | Japan |
| Degrees of freedom | 17 | 25 |
| Weight (kg) | 28 | 5.4 |
| Battery life (h) | 12 | 1.5 |
| Payload | N/A (no arms lifting) | 0.5 kg |
| Max speed | 1.0 m/s | 0.4 m/s |
| Actuators | Brushless DC Servo Motors | Brushless DC Servo Motors |
| Primary sensor | Stereo cameras + 3D Depth Sensor + 4x Microphones | 2x HD Cameras + IMU + 4x Microphones + Tactile sensors |
| Function | Social interaction | Education & research |
| Released | 2014 | 2008 |
| Status | Active | Active |
Verdict
Pepper leads on 3 of the 4 weighted dimensions both makers disclose.
Pepper leads on price ($1,500 vs $8,000), max speed (1.0 m/s vs 0.4 m/s) and battery life (12 h vs 1.5 h).
NAO leads on degrees of freedom (25 vs 17).
Left out because at least one manufacturer does not publish a figure: payload.
Pepper
A social humanoid designed for human interaction in retail, hospitality, and healthcare settings. Pepper detects faces, recognizes emotions, and engages in natural conversation with multi-language speech synthesis.
NAO
A programmable humanoid robot widely used in education and research. NAO features a rich sensor suite and runs the NAOqi framework, making it a standard platform for robotics labs and STEM programs worldwide.