False Claim: FUOYE Students Did Not Design Waiter Robot; It's a Product by Bear Robotics
False Claim about Design Waiter Robot Debunked
Faith Orji 
A recent online video claiming that students from the Department of Mechatronics at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, in Ekiti state, designed and constructed a waiter robot for restaurant service has been debunked.
The video, which initially surfaced on TikTok, showcased a robot waiter serving meals to restaurant customers. It was originally posted by @house_of_lovedoctor, but several variations of the video have since emerged on TikTok, each with different captions. These captions included statements like "Who says that capacities are not in Nigeria" and "This is a robot designed and constructed by the Department of Mechatronics, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, serving food in a restaurant." The video also made its way to closed WhatsApp groups and Facebook, accumulating over 23,000 views, 400 shares, 348 reactions, and 104 comments.
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However, thorough investigation by The FactCheckHub reveals that this claim is entirely false. The original video did not specify whether the robot was created by the Mechatronics Engineering department at the university or if it was being tested at a restaurant in Oye-Ekiti. The original caption, which stated, "At point a point where a customer obstructs ANITA'S operation she cries for help. Shop located at 4150 Lafayette rd IN 46254 Indianapolis Afs kitchen Amala toh sure," raises doubts about the robot's origin.
Furthermore, research uncovered that the Mechatronics department did create a mobile mail dispatch robot. However, this invention was the work of Oluwaseun Martins, a lecturer in the department, and it was developed as part of his PhD thesis. This innovation was officially launched in December 2021, as reported by Thisday and FUOYE itself.
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A Google reverse image search of a screenshot from the video led to an image of the same robot in a restaurant, revealing that the robot is known as Servi Robot, produced by Bear Robotics, a United States-based technology company specializing in hospitality solutions.
In conclusion, the claim that students from the Mechatronics department at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti designed a waiter robot is entirely untrue. The robot in the video is actually a product created by Bear Robotics, a company based in the United States.
