SoftBank reportedly expanded the presence of its robotics division by creating a team based in the UK to focus on enhancing sales of its humanoid and programmable robots.

Former sales director at IBM’s Watson IoT unit Stefano Bensi was appointed COO of the branch, The Telegraph reported, adding the Japan-based company had also hired a team in the UK to lead its efforts to advance its Softbank Robotics business.

The company’s robotics unit already has offices in Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco, Boston and Shanghai. It sells the robotic assistant Pepper, which it claims to be the world’s first personal robot capable of recognising faces and basic human emotions.

SoftBank also offers the robot Nao, which it acquired in 2015, which is used for education and research purposes.

The move follows the company’s efforts to focus on developing robotics, after acquiring specialist developers Boston Dynamics and Schaft from Alphabet in 2017.