Artificial intelligence(AI) is about to make a breakthrough in Nigeria and maybe Africa as a whole. It would appear that the Nigerian Government launched 'Omeife' for the intention of boosting AI and other technological development in Africa. Omeife was seemingly unveiled in Abuja by the Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency(NITDA) Kashifu Inuwa. The vice president of the federal government Yemi Osinbajo ensured the success of the project and tried persuading stakeholders to support the project and also develop new projects.
"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," The first African humanoid robot was developed by the Uniccon Group led by Chucks Ekwueme. The robot (Omeife) is around 6ft tall. Ekwueme said Omeife has a real-time understand of its surroundings, active listening and the ability to focus on specific conversation threads as they occur. He also stated as reported by TechCabal that Omeife is able to speak 9 different languages which include Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Arabic, Kiswahili, French, Afrikaans, pidgin and of course English. Ekwueme also said that he does not want the robot to show any expressions of sadness, neither does he want the robot to frown even if it's possible. Eniola Badmus also adds, "African politeness values alre also entrenched in their social interaction functions." As he explains how the robot can not just speak the different African languages but also speak in their native accents with extreme detail in the pronunciation of words, sentences and even phrases.
Ekwueme tells us that Omeife focuses on one particular person when having a conversation in order to keep the conversation alive and also chooses her words with care. He says that Omeife filters words, phrases, sentences and expressions that are not polite in their designated African cultures, "This particular attribute makes it safe to interact with kids" Ekwueme adds.
Another great feature of Omeife is that she also has terrain intelligence, which implies that she knows her own particular and stability on the floor, and this helps her navigate on non-flat surfaces and still maintain a relatively good balance. She also has a grip sensor that allows her to size, understand shape, and how to hold objects with her hands. Well it seems that the humanoid robot Omeife is an overall amazing project and we can anticipate more projects and updates in technology as Nigeria continues to advance in that aspect.
Credit: WiREDng