A bag containing some of Sophia the robot was lost at Frankfurt Airport leading to the cancellation of her press conference which was scheduled for Friday at the Ethiopian National Museum in the capital, Addis Ababa.
By Samuel Kisambe (CGTN)
The world’s most advanced humanoid robot, Sophia has arrived in Ethiopia albeit lacking some of her body parts.
A bag containing some of the robot was lost at Frankfurt Airport leading to the cancellation of Sophia’s press conference which was scheduled for Friday at the Ethiopian National Museum in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Sophia, a creation of Hong Kong firm Hanson Robotics has been programmed to speak Amharic, Ethiopia’s official language and was also due to meet the country’s Prime Minister over dinner during her three-day visit in the city.
Sophia, who was activated in 2015, has only been speaking English making Ethiopia’s Amharic the first language she will have spoken after English.
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According to Getahun Mekuria, Ethiopia’s science and technology minister, Sophia will still attend Saturday’s MCIT International Expo.
Getnet Asefa, the manager of iCog Labs – the engineering firm behind her Amharic programming, explained that issue that the robot has faced was fixable and they would find alternative parts for her.
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The Hanson Robotics invention doesn’t have pre-programed answers but instead uses machine learning and responds by reading people’s expressions.
She shot to fame after she was officially granted citizenship in October 2017 during her visit to the Investment Summit in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
Source: CGTN Africa