Pizza Hut Asia adds a Humanoid robot 'Pepper' to its rosterMay 25(AZINS) MasterCard announced Tuesday the launch of a new app for SoftBank Robotics' humanoid robot Pepper, which will enable Pepper to join the team at Pizza Hut Asia.

Pepper, who is designed to interact with humans, will be able to help customers who have a MasterCard MasterPass account, offering customised suggestions, special offers, order-taking and assistance in paying.

Vipul Chawla, Managing Director of Pizza Hut Restaurants Asia, expressed his delight at the news saying, "We are excited to welcome Pepper to the Pizza Hut family. Core to our digital transformation journey is the ability to make it easier for customers to engage, connect and transact with Pizza Hut. With an order-and-payment-enabled Pepper, customers can now come to expect personalized ordering at our stores, reduce wait time for carryout, and have a fun, frictionless user experience."

Visitors to Pizza Hut Asia can expect to be greeted by in-store by the end of 2016.

Pepper has already been put to work in Japan in SoftBank retail locations as well as with Nescafé, selling coffee machines.