Japanese firm Softbank has revealed a robot called Pepper, which it claims can read human emotions.

It uses an "emotional engine" and a cloud-based artificial intelligence system that enables it to analyse gestures, expressions and voice tones.

The firm said people could communicate with it "just like they would with friends and family" and it could carry out various tasks.

It will go on sale to the public next year for 198,000 yen (just over €1,400).

"People describe others as being robots because they have no emotions, no heart," Masayoshi Son, chief executive of Softbank, said at a press conference.

"For the first time in human history, we're giving a robot a heart, emotions."

The BBC reports that company will create prototypes of the robot at two of its stores from tomorrow, allowing customers to interact with them.

Meanwhile the secret service in the US has put out to tender for software that can analyse social media, including detecting "sarcasm and false positives".

It sets out the objectives of automating social media monitoring and "synthesising large sets of social media data".