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By Jeremiah Unom
Following its successful launch of Omeife as Africa’s first humanoid robot, the Uniccon Group of Companies said it was already focusing on commercialisation of the humanoid robot to leverage the global market valued in excess of 11 billon US dollars; and also release a military version of Omeife to address the continent’s rising security challenges.
The Chairman/CEO, Uniccon Group of Companies, Chukwudi Obinna Ekwueme, revealed this Tuesday in Abuja during a visit to the organisation by the Canadian High Commission’ in Nigeria led by Trade Commissioner, Global Affairs, Canada, Temitayo Lore Dada.
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Part of the objectives of the visit by the High Commission included seeking a deeper understanding of Uniccon, the Omeife technology that has become a global phenomenon and exploring areas of collaboration.
The Uniccon Group of Companies unveiled Omeife December 2 in Abuja to highlight the dawn of advanced robotic engineering, and humanoids in Africa.
The African launch of Omeife in Abuja followed its global unveiling October 10, 2022 in Dubai, UAE.
During the visit by the Canadian High Commission’ in Nigeria, Ekwueme expounded on the different offerings of Uniccon including its research efforts in STEM, biogas, and sustainable energy as well as Omeife which he described as a convergence of all of the Group’s efforts across a broad spectrum of technologies including AI, cloud, blockchain and drones amongst others.
Ekwueme enumerated the products and services of Uniccon whether in software or hardware developments by its subsidiaries producing agro and other chemical products; rendering solutions in blockchain technology, cyber security, cloud computing; all of which set the stage for the creation of Omeife humanoid.
The company is now ready for commercialisation and is focusing on collaboration and funding to fully explore the potential of Omeife as a Service (OaaS).
Omeife is designed to carry out complex operations. It has the inbuilt ability to speak eight different languages including English, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Pidgin, Wazobia and Afrikaans’ and is positioned to provide “language as a service for businesses that need to integrate native African audiences.
The six-foot-tall female African humanoid is a multipurpose and assistance robot capable of remodeling business spaces. Its software aspect is fully expressed as an OaaS.
According to Ekwueme, an underlying importance of Omeife is its capacity to help resolve a variety of challenges in the country and throughout the African continent including insecurity and increasing complexity of Corporate Africa where operators must stay ahead of the sophistication of the market and consumers. ,
He said Uniccon was already working on a military version of Omeife robot in collaboration with military agencies. This advanced design of Omeife will be powered by satellite technology allowing for solutions that include surveillance, identification, intelligence gathering, light detection, and profiling identity as a service, among others relevant to combat insecurity in the country .
Ekwueme said Omeife is considered as an integrated android solution of all the 11 Uniccon tech products enabling the provision of solutions for education or training; medical support and many more other services.
The commercialisation of Omeife will allow Uniccon to play in the USD 11.3 billion global humanoid market and significantly impact on Nigeria’s GDP. Equally important is the robust impact on science and technology of robotics for young Nigerians including students who get exposed to practical tech know-how.
The representative of the Canadian High Commission’, Dada, commended Ekwueme and his team at Uniccon, assuring them of support as the Canadian High Commission has a policy of partnering to promote creativity and boost high skill sets.
