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Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Thursday in Abuja officially unveiled Omeife, Africa’s first humanoid robot at a ceremony witnessed by several members of the diplomatic community, actors in the business sector, academics and researchers.
Omeife, created by the Uniccon Group of Companies, is the first African humanoid with near-human resemblance, language competency, movement, navigation, and behavioural intelligence using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computer Vision capabilities.
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The Uniccon Group, Abuja based startup, is an amalgamation of various research and tech companies focusing on hardware and software solutions to address Africa’s unique needs.
The Omeife robot has an estimated revenue projection of USD 11.6 billion in three years in the largely vast and untapped market of corporate Africa, according to its promoters.
“We are ready to support you and commercialize this technology. We want to see it deployed in our farms, road construction and in our classrooms. I have directed the National information technology development agency, NITDA to partner with Uniccon for the commercialization of the Omeife technology,” Vice President Osinbajo said as called for further domestication of AI to resolve various challenges across sectors.
“We are living in an exciting time of advanced technological advancement, where the science fiction of yesterday are becoming the reality in products and services of today, said Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who in turn was represented by the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency NITDA Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi.
According to the Vice President, Omeife represents a noble effort to veer into advanced use of technology to address the country’s increasing 21st century challenges and assured that the federal government will support the project to success even as he urged other stakeholders to join what he described as a “life changing venture.”
The Vice President said government was already taking steps to encourage entrepreneurs focused on domestication of advanced technology even as he advised the tech community to ensure that the use of AI does negate existing local culture, policies, regulations, laws, and developmental innovation.
According to the Ugandan High Commissioner H.E. Nelson Ocheger,in his goodwill message: “Today is a special day; a day of victory for Uniccon and a day of victory for Africa. If Nigeria can do it, Africa can do it. I challenge you to use this innovation to grow the economy of Nigeria and the economy of Africa.”
The Chairman/CEO, Uniccon Group of Companies, Mr. Chucks Ekwueme, said one of the driving motivations for Omeife is to put Africa on the global map for its contribution in technology.
Omeife 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.
His words: “Through Omeife and our projects we are happy to play a part in helping businesses and people all over Africa to achieve their fullest potential by providing access to the most innovative technologies for efficiency.”
Adding: “[Omoife] identifies and tags humans through face and facial expressions, paying attention to a specific item when required. It identifies objects, knows their characteristics and also calculates positions and distances of objects it sees,” he added.
It is time to commercialize the technology built for the African setting, the Uniccon’s chairman said while asking for support of government and other stakeholders,
His words: “The challenge now is the commercialization of the technology, we need support from stakeholders not just to commercialize it but also patronage and usage. I’m calling on the government, investors, public sector and industries to see how they can partner with us.”
COVER PHOTO: VON
