Praises have continued to stream in for Uniccon, a Nigerian Group of Companies based in Abuja, that made history a few days ago for building a humanoid robot nicknamed ‘Omeife’, the first to be built in Africa by an African company.
The 6-feet-tall Omeife, a female humanoid robot that can speak eight languages including English, French, Kiswahili, Arabic, Wazobia, Afrikaans, and Igbo, can also make gestures such as hand illustrations, expressions, smile, and other bodily movements.
Omeifa has a real-time understanding, interpretation and speaking of various African languages in their native accents, vocabulary, and pitch, something which brings out the ‘Africanness’ in the Nigerian robot built with dark skin.
According to Uniccon, the Nigerian two-year-old start-up, Omeife is programmed to grasp a deep understanding of the various African cultures as well as behavioral patterns, something which has impressed many people from around the world who have continued to give it a thumbs-up.
Tech Experts’ take on Omeife Tavonga Zindonda, an IT Expert from Zimbabwe termed the building of the Nigerian humanoid robot as a “remarkable development”.
“Having a robot that can perfectly recognize and respond to human gestures and speech is such a great beginning point to other developers and humanoid robot technicians in the region and continent by extension,” Zindonda said.
Apart from gestures, Omeife has terrain intelligence, something that enables her to know the level of the ground and maintain her stability on the floor. This is essential in helping her navigate on rough surfaces while maintaining a good balance in motion.
Additionally, Omeife also has the position awareness ability that is instrumental in State-management and GPS for location purposes. Omeife has also been touted for her grip ability – the ability to hold various things and understand their shapes.
“Our scientists also entrenched African politeness in interactions in Omeife. This particular attribute makes it safe to interact with kids,” said Chuks Ekwueme, Unnicon Group of Companies CEO.
Many robot enthusiasts have credited Omeife’s advanced algorithms. The human-like robot was conceptualized two years ago by Uniccon’s in-house scientists and cannot only recall but also understand old concepts much better and with new information.
“Tech like Omeife is not too mainstream, especially in Africa, so we want to show the world and then start a new narrative for African tech,” Ekwueme told news agencies.
Plans for mass production of Omeifa
Unnicon which plans to start mass production of Omeife once it is improved says the final piece will go for at least more than $30,000.
“It’s not just multilingual, it can switch languages and interact with specific gestures – hand illustrations, smile, and other bodily gestures – that match the tone of the conversation. We can also build for physicality, all we need to do is to modify the AI and strengthen the hardware component of our humanoid,” the confident Ekwueme added.
The unveiling of the Nigerian-made robot at the world’s biggest tech event dubbed Gitex at Dubai World Trade Centre didn’t however materialize.
Africa’s technology has gathered pace and has gained a lot of attention and attracted massive investment interests. Technology advancement ventures such as Omeife might just be the link that has been missing for great breakthrough innovations that will play a pivotal role in resolving global problems.
Africa Global News Publication, written by Chris Ombati and edited by Sam Abuya
