Demonstrating some of the high-tech futuristic features in its projects
Dubai, UAE. February 21th, 2006: Omniyat Properties, the recently-launched Dubai-based developer of futuristic high-tech properties, is displaying the world's first robotic bar-tender at its stand at the Dubai International Property Show, which opened on Tuesday at the Dubai International Exhibition Centre near the World Trace Centre.
The robot, which can serve both cold and hot drinks, sits inside its own booth, and has two arms similar to those of a bar-tender which allow him to mix any type of cocktails or mocktails and serve them. The Omniyat Robo-Bar, as it is known, can also prepare hot drinks like tea and coffee as well as serve any type of drink.
Mehdi Amjad, President and CEO of Omniyat Properties, said that by displaying the robotic bar-tender at the three-day exhibition, Omniyat Properties aims to demonstrate how it will be using technology to change the way people live and work in its towers in the near future.
"We don't want to show all our cards in one go, so we will be demonstrating bit by bit all the different technologies which we will be integrating in our upcoming projects, whether they are residential, office or hotel projects. You can imagine this Robo-bar in our buildings serving drinks to the visitors," Amjad said.
Omniyat Properties, the real estate development arm of the 2-billion-Dirham technology-based group, Almasa Holdings, has become the first company in the Middle East to focus on developing futuristic properties where technology is used to improve people's lifestyles and enhance the way they work and live.
Ehab S. Shouly, Senior Vice President and Marketing Director of Omniyat Properties, said that the company will be entering every segment of the market and offering homes and offices which enjoy high-tech features such as voice control and robotics as well as other high-tech features which will help companies and individuals save time and costs.
"By bringing the first robotic bar-tender in the world to Dubai, and displaying it on our stand, we wanted to demonstrate that our promise of futuristic properties where robots take care of daily house chores is a real promise and not just a figment of our imagination. The technology we're talking about exists today," Shouly said.
The robotic bar-tender responds to touch-screen commands, which allows the user to order a drink from a menu on a screen. Once the selection is made, the face on the monitor that forms the head of the robot repeats the order, and the robot starts preparing it by moving its arms to reach for the bottles placed in front of it and pouring the drink.
"The Robo-bar can serve either simple one-ingredient drinks or combine a few drinks to make a cock-tail or a mock-tail. Since we are a shariah-compliant company, we have decided to serve only mock-tails and soft-drinks as well hot drinks to our guests at the show," Shouly pointed out.
The Robo-bar is also currently being further developed so that it can take voice commands from customers instead of the touch-screen commands, to make the process easier and more life-like. "We're trying to teach it how to tell jokes and listen to sob-stories, but that may take a while," Shouly quipped.
Omniyat Properties is using the exhibition to showcase its vision of building the most technologically advanced and futuristic buildings in the Middle East, and possibly even the world. The company is capitalizing on the resources of its sister-companies, which include the largest distribution company for information technology products in the Middle East and North Africa.
"Our buildings will be so intelligent that they will recognize you if you are a tenant, and they will give you access and even press the button of your floor in the elevator. They will open doors for you and robotics will take care of cleaning and mopping your homes, and even pressing your clothes. And your voice will be your command," Shouly said.
The Robo-bar will be joined on the Omniyat Properties stand number 121 at the Dubai International Property Show by another of its kind, but with a different mission. Cyberstein is a walking, talking and dancing 8-foot robot which will demonstrate how robotics can be used for entertainment in the future.
Omniyat is also using the exhibition to showcase its just-launched debut projects, One Business Bay and Bayswater. Both projects are commercial office tower being offered on a freehold basis in the Business Bay master-development on the Sheikh Zayed Road between the first and second interchanges.
The two projects have a combined value of over AED 850 million and offer a total of 700,000 square feet of prime freehold office space as well as 25,000 square feet of prime retail space on Sheikh Zayed, behind the Emirates Airlines and Emirates Holidays buildings.
The two projects will cater to different market segments and offer two different types of office space, for the upper segment and the middle segment.
The first project, One Business Bay, is a 30-storey tower with a unique design which resembles a diamond sticking out of the ground. Bahrain-based International Investment Bank (IIB) has taken a 50% stake in the tower, which has already been 95% sold out in the pre-launch stage.
The AED 507-million One Business Bay, which will enjoy Omniyat's high-tech facilities, has three under-ground basement parking levels, and five floors of podium parking, giving it a total over 1000 parking spaces. Construction has already begun and the tower will be completed in the first quarter of 2008.
Omniyat's second project, Bayswater, is a 25-story scissor-shaped office tower located on a water-facing plot in the Business Bay. The office space in the project has also been 93% sold out and only some offices and the retail space are still available for investors.
Construction of Bayswater, with a value of AED 345 million, will begin in May of this year and is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2008. Bayswater is a mid-market segment targeted at medium-sized companies which want a premium address and office location but at a lower price than Grade-A offices.
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© Press Release 2006
