FALSE: This video is not of a hospitality robot made by the Federal University Oye-Ekiti in Nigeria
The robot was filmed at an African restaurant in Indianapolis and is a product of US-based company Bear Robotics.
Writer: PesaCheck
A Facebook post with a TikTok video purportedly of a hospitality robot made by the Federal University Oye-Ekiti in Nigeria is FALSE.
The post reads, “This is Nigeria. This Robot was designed and constructed by the Department of Mechatronics, Federal University, Oye- Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. ‘A Robot Serving food in a restaurant’.”
The post adds, “As you can listen to the background discussion. Nigeria is building capacity to catch-up with global technology.”
A search for the TikTok username @house_of_lovedoctor visible in the video in question established that the video was filmed in the United States (US).
The TikTok account shared the post on 26 September 2023 with the caption, “At any point where a customer obstructs ANITA’S operation, she cries for help. Shop located at 4150 Lafayette rd, IN 46254 Indianapolis. AFS Kitchen.”
AFS Kitchen is an African restaurant in Indianapolis, USA.
On 21 September 2023, the creator shared a different post of the robot at the same restaurant with Indianapolis as the tagged location and responded to a comment clarifying it is not in Nigeria but in the USA.
A reverse image search of a screenshot of the robot from the video on Yandex established that it is a product of a US-based company and not manufactured in Nigeria, as alleged.
Images of the robot were featured in an article dated 15 March 2022 titled, “Bear Robotics Raises $81M Series B to Scale Up Mobile Robots in the Hospitality Market.”
Bear Robotics has manufactured two hospitality robots dubbed “Servi” and “Servi Plus”, which have been deployed to various restaurants globally.
There is no news of the said invention from Nigeria’s Federal University Oye-Ekiti from a credible source.
PesaCheck has looked into a Facebook post with a video purportedly of a hospitality robot made by the Federal University Oye-Ekiti in Nigeria and finds it to be FALSE.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
