São Paulo – A 2.6-meter-high robot that dances, talks and interacts with the audience is winning over the Arab world. Created five years ago and patented in 2009 by designer Lei Almeida from Salvador, Robozão debuted in Bahian Carnaval and now participates in shows, corporate events, and sectorial shows throughout Brazil and over ten countries, including United States, Panama, Barbados, Anguilla, Santa Lúcia (in Caribe), Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Italy, and most recently the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
“We had spent a week in Dubai last year for an event organized by Naffco, the UAE’s largest firefighting product company. And we’ve already scheduled a trip to come back next January for a safety trade show,” Almeida said.
Robozão is multilingual. During the event in Dubai, he spoke in English and Arabic, and in Saudi Arabia just in Arabic. “We develop lines for him in any languages through a software,” the creator explained.
The character has been in Saudi Arabia in two occasions. “We went in 2018 to participate in a very traditional camel race closing concert near Riyadh. During the reception, we participated in a typical dance show, the one with swords and drums, a Bedouin dance. It was a huge success. Robozão even met the prince [Mohammed bin Salman]! We are negotiating to participate in it again next year,” Almeida said.
Last March, Robozão spent a month participating in entertainment activities at ten different malls for a Saudi mall chain in Riyadh and Jeddah. “Robozão has everything to be with the Arab people. His body language, music and dance create a fun connection. It seems unthinkable since it’s a such different culture, but he connected Brazil and the Arab culture,” he reported.
According to Almeida, the UAE and Saudi Arabia were the most distant and different countries Robozão has ever traveled to. “Getting to know a culture so different and being so well received really amazed me about these countries. They’re always trying to receive you well, treating you well. I felt that even more in Saudi Arabia as Dubai is a more cosmopolitan city,” he said.
Robozão’s performance usually starts with robotic movements before he starts dancing in a more fluid, humanoid way, and then breaks the ice with the music, which ranges from Brazilian, international pop, and local songs, which meant Arab in this case.
To meet the current demand of both domestic and foreign events, Almeida says that he has fifteen Robozão. Each of them travels with a three-people staff. “We travel on an airliner. I developed and patented packages so that he can travel with the team to facilitate logistics,” Almeida explained. The robot is dismantled and travels in five boxes with the team that operates it. A production staff member organizes the event and the logistics. The other two operate the character. They are dancers trained to act with the robot – one of them stays behind it, mimicking its movement and operating a manual controller.
But Almeida does not make it clear: So, is there someone inside the character? “I developed Robozão to inspire and delight people. He’s fun, leaves a smile on everyone’s face. I want people to be inspired by its tech,” he said, hedging the question.
The robot is made of plastic, glass fiber, and metals. Each client may put their own stickers on it. During the camel race, the character was covered in golden stickers, while the event in Dubai saw it stamped in red and the hiring company logo. Robozão even has its own song and little mascots, a tiny 30-centimeter Robozão that is distributed in the events it participates in. Check below some videos with the character.
Contact
Instagram: @robozaooficial
www.robozao.com
+55 71 99186-9578
The character in Saudi Arabia
Robozão in Dubai – Naffco
Robozão song – Boomboom Dance
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
