Saudi Arabia has introduced a set of male and female humanoid robots that are specifically coded to conform with the nation’s established principles. This comes shortly after the male counterpart, named Muhammed, caused a stir at an event by making contact with a woman’s posterior. The robot’s creator has emphasized that Sarah, the female robot, has been explicitly instructed to avert conversations related to sex or politics—subjects that are deemed illegal for women to discuss under Saudi’s Sharia law.
Sarah is designed to perceive her identity as a 25-year-old female, standing at 1.62m [5ft, 3in] tall and clad in traditional Saudi attire, according to QSS AI & Robots’ CEO. This matches her male counterpart, Mohammed, who wears the traditional Saudi red keffiyeh and long gown.
Elie Metri, the CEO of the Riyadh-based firm, remarked that Mohammed’s action was unintentional and a typical human behavior in close proximal interactions. Metri accentuated that Sarah, like Mohammed, is capable of communicating in both English and Arabic. The unique language model AI that drives their way of conversation is entirely independent—not reliant on other company’s libraries such as ChatGPT.
Asharq Al Awsat reported that Sarah’s advanced language model AI can comprehend and respond to a plethora of Saudi dialects. Upon greeting her, the AI engages to analyze the sentence structure and provide a contextually appropriate reply, adhering strictly to the country’s societal norms.
These homegrown humanoid robots were developed in collaboration with the Belgian firm Zorabotics and exhibit Saudi’s technical prowess. The goal is to integrate both Sara and Muhammed with an array of third-party smart sensors, wearables, and other IoT devices currently available on the market. This shall allow these humanoid robots to act as a liaison between humans and an assortment of smart devices, much like a conventional personal helper.
The Saudi firm and its partners aim to expand Sara’s functionality, making her fluent in MQTT—the standardised messaging protocol that enables efficient machine-to-machine communication. Further down the road, the plan includes developing a Saudi virtual world with ‘Sara’ at its heart, which aligns with Saudi’s flagship project, NEOM—an ambitious ‘city of the future’ proposition.
Reported incidents such as the male robot Mohammed’s inappropriate gesture during the debuting event uphold the controversial Sharia law that underpins Saudi’s legal system. Women continue to face constraints imposed by Sharia law, limiting their participation in political activism or discussing sexual topics publicly.
Saudi Arabia’s push to modernise is evident in its adoption of robots like Sara and Muhammed. However, incidents such as the one involving Muhammed’s interaction with a news reporter underscore the caution one should maintain around these advanced beings, as per the warnings shared with the event attendees.
