Your trusted source

A Japanese man has been arrested after lashing out at a robot designed to respond to human emotions in a drunken rage.

Kiichi Ishikawa, 60, visited a tech store in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Sunday morning and reportedly lost his temper with a member of staff, according to capitalbay.com.

However, instead of turning on the store clerk, a visibly intoxicated Mr Ishikawa launched an attack on one of the £1,050 Pepper robots working the floor.

CCTV footage shows a drunk Mr Ishikawa repeatedly kicking the Pepper in the SoftBank shop, where the robots are used as assistants.

The £1,050 Pepper robot is designed to register and respond to human emotions - however it is not known how or if it responded to the drunken attack.

Kanagawa Prefectural Police said Mr Ishikawa admitted to damaging property because he did not like the attitude of the shop clerk, Japan Times reported.

The Pepper became a huge success when it was launched in June this year, with all 1,000 available units bought up within a minute of going on sale.