Dressed in traditional Japanese garb, Pepper chants Buddhist sutras, delivers sermons and goes through funeral rites with aplomb. 

But one thing distinguishes him from traditional Buddhist monks at funerals: Pepper is a robot. 

Pepper is the world's first robot designed to perform funeral rites, taking over the role traditionally played by a Buddhist monk. Unveiled at the Tokyo International Funeral and Cemetery show, the robot is the brainchild of Softbank and Nissei Eco.

The robot has yet to begin presiding over real funerals, although with Pepper costing just $450 a ceremony compared to the thousands required for a human practitioner, it seems like that is only a matter of time.