The Uniccon Group of Companies will unveil ‘Omeife,’ Africa’s first humanoid robot, in Nigeria on Friday.
Uniccon Group of Companies, a two-year-old Nigerian technology firm based in Abuja, developed Omeife at the StemFocus Robotics Lab.
Omeife is a multilingual 6-foot-tall human-like robot. Omeife, built as a female Igbo character who understands and speaks eight different languages, evolved from an idea that was conceptualized in 2020 to a back-and-forth construction—slow wins and quick-succession learning—that spanned two years.
Omeife has a deep understanding of African culture and behavioral patterns, thanks to sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms developed in-house by the company’s team of scientists.
Omeife understands its environment in real time, including active listening and the ability to focus on a specific conversation thread as it occurs. She is not only multilingual, but she also has the ability to switch between languages and interact with specific gestures—hand illustrations, smiles, and other bodily gestures—that correspond to the tone of the conversation.
Omeife can currently communicate in English, French, Arabic, Kiswahili, Pidgin, Wazobia, Afrikaans, and Igbo.
Omeife boasts of discussion awareness and focus by paying attention to a specific person in order to keep the conversation going. According to Uniccon, the robot is cautious and aware of words, phrases, sentences, and expressions that are considered impolite in African cultures, as well as being safe for children.
In conversations, the robot has the capability of active listening, as well as switching languages and interacting with specific gestures.
Omeife uses Advanced AI and Face Detection to recognize and tag humans based on their faces and facial expressions. It also has Subject Focus, which allows it to pay attention to a specific item when necessary, and it identifies objects and knows their characteristics.
