By Bonginkosi Msezane
“I am in Dubai and there are eight other African countries that have shown interest in Iris,” Thando Gumede says in excitement.
It’s been a week since she revealed Iris, the humanoid robot that she has developed. “Iris is a teacher,” she explains.
The 31-year-old from Hluhluwe says that the Iris has the ability to help with tutoring of school learners with a number of their subjects. She is the founder of BGT Technologies, an organisation that has been involved in a number of tech education in Northern KwaZulu-Natal for a number of years. Some of her previous initiatives include hackathons and programmes that teach learners how to code. “Iris is a smart tool that speaks almost all 11 languages and knows every subject from Grade 1 to tertiary level,” explains Gumede.
Those that were at the Durban launch of this tutor say her potential is bigger than school subjects. “IRIS will help in social development, especially in rural areas. It can assist in land verification and agricultural automation,” says Thembeka Ndlovu who is from the agricultural sector.
KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Education Deputy Director General, Mbongiseni Mazibuko, says government is fully behind IRIS. “We are on a mission to ensure every teacher uses Artificial Intelligence. I’m happy that schools in Durban are already using laptops which means IRIS can be integrated across all schools. Since all leaners now use tablets then IRIS can be linked to every tablet in school,” Mazibuko explains.
