The Nigerian government has unveiled “Omeife,” Africa’s first humanoid, in an effort to advance technology advancement in Nigeria and throughout Africa.
Omeife was unveiled in Abuja by Director General National Information Technology Development Agency NITDA Kashifu Inuwa, who was acting in place of Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, who was to represent Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The Vice President asked other stakeholders to support the Omeife project and create new ones, noting that the federal government will assure the initiative’s success.
Omeife stands at six feet.
“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,”
Nigerian inventor of the first human robot Omeife, the first African humanoid robot, was created by the Uniccon Group under the direction of Chucks Ekwueme, according to Vanguard.
Ekwueme described the characteristics of the humanoid, including active listening and the capacity to concentrate on a particular discussion thread as it is taking place.
In addition to English, he mentioned that Omeife is also fluent in eight other languages, including Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Pidgin, and Afrikaans, according to TechCabal.
Ekwueme added that Omeife deliberately selects its words—selecting away words, phrases, sentences, and expressions that are impolite in African cultures—in order to maintain the discussion.
Speaking on whether Omeife can frown or show expressions of sadness. Ekwueme added: “No, I don’t think we want it to do that even it is possible”
The ability of Omeife to speak each language with a native accent, pitch, and vocabulary, as well as with detailed pronunciations of words, sentences, and even phrases, he said, really emphasizes the Africanness built into the game.
He noted: ” African politeness values are also entrenched in their social interaction functions.”
“This particular attribute makes it safe to interact with kids”
The CEO of Uniccon Group added that Omeife’s learning pipeline helps it remember and comprehend new information from conversations as well as improves its ability to recall and comprehend old ideas with new information.
He continues: “Omeife also has terrain intelligence in that it knows its own ground level and stability on the floor, which helps it navigate on non-flat surfaces and maintain good balance. It also has a position awareness feature and a grip sensor that allows it to size, understand shape, and how to hold things with its hands.”
